Inside the Venezuelan Oil Tanker Seizure Operation

ABC News Law Enforcement Contributor Don Mihalek explains how the Venezuelan oil tanker seizure operation went down.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let's go straight to the hotline and bring in Don Mahallick,
who's back with us. He's an ABC News law enforcement contributor,
retired Senior Secret Service agent, and a US Coast Guard
Reserve veteran.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Done.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Thanks so much for joining us. Want to talk about
this incredible operation off the coast of Venezuela, the US
seizing and oil tanker. What can you tell us about
what went down?

Speaker 2 (00:21):
It was incredible, but according to the Department of Justice,
this vessel had been under investigation for violating international law
in relation to transporting contraband to Iran oil to Iran.
So the Department of Justice said that they got a
seizure warrant which they handed to the US Coast Guard,
who are the maritime law enforcement experts, and had them

(00:43):
enforced the seizure warrant. So the Coast Guard, working with
the Navy and some other federal partners, found the ship,
identified the ship, and then seized the ship using its
Tier one Maritime Security Response Team, the MSRT team, which
is a team of highly trained Coast Guard person Well
that stemed out of nine to eleven. They needed a
counter maritime law enforcement capability, so the Coast Guard created

(01:07):
the Maritime Security Response Team in order to in order
to enforce or combat maritime terrorism. So they would aboard
the ship, they swept and cleared it. They enforced the seize.

Speaker 1 (01:19):
You warn't.

Speaker 2 (01:21):
They take the ship into custody and it's personal to custody.
And my guess is the next stop is probably Houston,
and then once it's there, they will process this as
a federal seizure, which the Coast Guard has done for decades.
This is the Coast Guard's bread and butter. This is
what they do. So for the Coast Guard, this is
nothing new. I think what's new for the American people

(01:42):
is the fact that the Venezuela issue has created a
lot of concerning questions among the American people and the
fact that this was such a large vessel, was an
oil tanker. Typically these typically these seizure warrants are you know,
personal craft or yachts or even small car vessels or
fishing boats. A car on an oil tank or is

(02:03):
a larger vessel. That is not typical in these situations.
But if you're violating the law, you're violating the law,
and the Coast Guard will enforce the law on each
and every vessel because it is the only military branch
in the federal government that has maritime law enforcement authority
not only in US territorial waters but out in the
open sea as well. And the other thing to keep

(02:25):
in mind is any vessel that either isn't flagged, that
doesn't have a flag or was registered someplace, or is
in an act of piracy like off the coast of Somalia,
or is violating international law by smuggling contraband which could
be humans, drugs, or in this case oil. If they
do that, they waive their rights under international law, which

(02:48):
permits the Coast Guard to stop, inspect, and seize any vessel.

Speaker 1 (02:54):
We're joined by ABC News law enforcement contributor in US
Coast Guard Reserve veteran Don Mahallick. What about the operation
itself and the risks to the members of the Coast
Guard who are conducting an operation like this.

Speaker 2 (03:10):
So this type of operation is something in the Coast Guard,
especially the MSRT team, trained for routinely, which is you
saw the helicopter insertion of the team members on to
the ship. Anything you do underway on the water is
dangerous because you don't have a lot of room to
move around and they always have to be cognizant of that.

(03:31):
So it does take a lot of training and a
lot of planning in order to effectively execute an operation
like they did. And intelligence gathering too, which the Coast Guard,
which most people want to wear, it has a pretty
robust maritime intelligence section, gleaning maritime intelligence from both domestic
and international partners, specifically for ships committing crimes, pirate ships

(03:54):
ship doing piracy, or a contraband drug smelling or whatever
you know. The Coast Guard is part of that maritime
intelligence loop which allows it to find, identify, and stop
these vessels that are violating our laws or international law.
This is the constant Coast Guard's bread and butter, and
from the seventies when we declared the war on drugs,

(04:15):
this is what the Coast Guard has been doing that
in the Caribbean since, so for them, this is nothing new.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
Retired Senior Secret Service Agent, US Coast Guard Reserve veteran
and ABC News Law enforcement contributor Don Mahallick with us done.
Really appreciate your time and insight.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Thanks so much. Thanks for having me. Ryan Wes a
Ryan Gorman Show five to nine every weekday morning on
news radio w fla