US seized an airplane owned by Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro

The U.S. government has seized an airplane linked to Nicolás Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, and brought it to Florida on Monday because it was bought in violation of U.S. sanctions, according to a Justice Department statement. The Biden administration is trying to put more pressure on Maduro because of his attempts to undermine the results of the recent presidential election in his country, White House officials said. The Justice Department said in its statement that it had seized a Dassault Falcon 900EX owned and operated by Mr. Maduro and his partners after it had been brought to the Dominican Republic for maintenance work. The department then had the plane flown to Florida. The plane had been purchased in the United States for $13m through a shell company and “smuggled” out of the country “for use by Nicolás Maduro and his cronies,” said Merrick B. Garland, the U.S. attorney general. The Homeland Security Department helped the Justice Department lead the operation, one U.S. official said. The Commerce Department was involved as well. Let this seizure send a clear message: Aircraft illegally acquired from the United States for the benefit of sanctioned Venezuelan officials cannot just fly off into the sunset,” Matthew S. Axelrod, the assistant secretary for export enforcement at the Commerce Department, said in a written statement. Video footage broadcast Monday showed the airplane, a sleek white jet with red stripes, sitting on a tarmac in Florida.<br/>