WASHINGTON: The United States said Friday it seized another tanker that tried to break an American naval blockade aimed at preventing sanctioned vessels from going to or departing Venezuela, the fifth ship apprehended in recent weeks. Washington has deployed a huge naval force in the Caribbean, striking boats it says were used for drug trafficking, seizing tankers and carrying out a stunning operation to seize Venezuela’s leftist leader.

A U.S. official says U.S. forces have boarded a Venezuela-linked sanctioned oil tanker in North Atlantic after pursuing it for weeks.

The ships were boarded by US forces in predawn operations in the North Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea.