the United States has seized Venezuela president Nicholas maduro's airplane after determining that its acquisition was in violation of us sanctions among other criminal issues the US flew the aircraft to Florida on Monday according to two US officials it's the latest development in what has long been a frosty relationship between the US and Venezuela and its seizure in the Dominican Republic marks an escalation as the US continues to investigate what it regards as Corrupt Practices by Venezuela's government this sends a message all the way up to the top one of the US officials told CNN seizing the foreign head of States plane is unheard of for criminal matters we're sending a clear message here that no one is above the law no one is above the reach of us sanctions the plane has been described by officials as Venezuela's equivalent to Air Force 1 and it has been pictured in previous state visits by Maduro around the world the Dominican Republic's president Lis abadir said the plane seized by the US on Monday was not registered under the name of the Venezuelan government but rather under the name of an individual foreign minister of the Dominican Republic Roberto Alvarez said the country's Attorney General's office received an order last May from a national Court to immobilize the plane the US had requested it be immobilized so they could search it for evidence and objects linked to fraud activities smuggling of goods for illicit activities and money laundering he said in a statement us Attorney General Merck Garland said that the justice department seized an aircraft we allege was illegally purchased for $13 million through a shell company and smuggled out of the United States for use by Nicholas Maduro and his cronies the plane adasa Falcon 900 y was purchased from a company in Florida the justice department said and was illegally exported in April 2023 from United States to Venezuela through the Caribbean it was used for maduro's international travels and flu almost exclusively to and from a military base in Venezuela according to the Justice Department Records show that the plan's last registered flight was in March flying from Caracus to the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo the Venezuelan government described the seizure as piracy in a statement on Monday and accused Washington of escalating aggression toward maduro's government following a contested presidential election this July once again the authorities of the USA in a recur in criminal practice that could not be labeled anything but piracy have illegally seized an aircraft that has been used by the president of the Republic justifying its action in coercive measures that illegally and unilaterally they impose around the world it said the United States has already demonstrated that it uses its economic and military power to intimidate and pressure states such as the Dominican Republic to serve as accompli in its criminal acts this is an example of the supposed rules based order which disregarding international law seeks to establish the law of the strongest it said multiple agencies involved for years us officials have sought to disrupt the flow of billions of dollars to the regime Homeland Security investigations the second largest investigative agency in the federal government has seized dozens of luxury Vehicles among other assets heading to Venezuela the plane was seized in violation of us sanctions with Venezuela and other criminal matters that were still looking at regarding this aircraft Anthony Salsbury special agent in charge Homeland Security investigations told CNN a high-ranking official from the Dominican Republic told CNN that maduro's aircraft had been in Dominican territory undergoing maintenance at the time it was seized by us authorities The Source added that the government had no record that maduro's private plane was in the country until it was seized us officials worked closely with the Dominican Republic which notified Venezuela of the seizure according to one of the US officials multiple federal agencies were involved in the seizure including Homeland Security investigations Commerce agents the Bureau of industry and security and the justice department the Dominican Republic's foreign minister said the government did not participate in the US investigation and only International legal cooperation was required under the two Count's bilateral agreements one of the next steps upon arriving to the US will be pursuing forfeiture meaning the Venezuelan government has a chance to petition for it and collecting evidence from the aircraft the US recently placed pressure on the Venezuelan government to immediately release specific data regarding its presidential election citing concerns about The credibility of maduro's claimed Victory Venezuela's opposition has published more than 80% of tall printed and collected from voting machines across the country though partial the documentation appears to show that the opposition candidate edmundo Gonzalez rudia actually won the vote several experts told s the situation in Venezuela has had implications for us Politics as Millions flee the country many of whom have chosen to migrate to the US Mexico border don't forget like share subscribe my channel bubu dos news