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US arrests Turk for apparently attempting to break Venezuela sanctions

U.S. authorities have jailed a Turkish male who they allege was attempting to breach sanctions by transferring oil from Venezuela, the Justice Department stated on Monday.

The U.S. reimposed sanctions on the Venezuelan oil company PDVSA in June after what it stated was the failure of President Nicolas Maduro to return to talks with the political opposition and commit to reasonable elections.

In a statement, the Justice Department said 37-year-old Taskin Torlak had supposedly conspired to illegally offer Venezuelan oil, utilizing deceit and trickery to conceal the reality that this oil stemmed from Venezuela.

Torlak was arrested in Miami on Saturday as he attempted to leave for Turkey.

The department stated Torlak and others relabelled and reflagged oil tankers and turned off the electronic devices that track vessel places, receiving 10s of millions of dollars from PDVSA.

In June, Reuters reported that PDVSA had started utilizing tankers that navigate off radar to supply Cuba with oil.

A big portion of tanker fleets owned by Venezuela and Cuba are under U.S. sanctions, which likewise limits their travel.

(source: Reuters)