MIAMI, United States (AFP) — The United States on Monday seized Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s plane in the Dominican Republic and flew it to Florida, a move condemned by the South American leader as “piracy” but which Washington said was necessary due to sanction violations.

United States officials moved to take the aircraft, a Dassault Falcon 900EX private jet used by Maduro and members of his government, with the Justice Department saying the plane was “illegally purchased.”

“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 Nicolas Maduro and his cronies,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

The foreign ministry in Caracas issued a statement later on Monday denouncing the seizure.

“Once again, the authorities of the United States of America are engaged in a criminal practice that cannot be described as anything other than piracy,” the statement read.

Aircraft tracking site Flightradar24 showed that the jet flew from Santo Domingo to Fort Lauderdale on Monday morning.

The Dominican Republican said it did not participate in the US probe into the jet.

“Neither the Dominican government nor the public prosecutor’s office participated in the United States’ investigation process,” Dominican Foreign Affairs Minister Roberto Alvarez told reporters, adding that the aircraft “was in Dominican territory for maintenance purposes.”

The US says that in late 2022 and early 2023, individuals affiliated with Maduro allegedly used a Caribbean-based shell company to conceal their involvement in the illegal purchase of the jet.

The aircraft was then illegally exported from the United States to Venezuela through the Caribbean in April 2023.

Since May 2023, the plane has flown almost exclusively to and from a military base in Venezuela.

Anthony Salisbury, special agent in charge at the Homeland Security Investigations Miami office, said “this plane was predominantly utilized by Nicolas Maduro on numerous state visits.”

The South American country was rocked by protests when Maduro was declared the winner of a disputed July 28 election, with dozens killed and more than 2,400 people arrested.

The opposition claims it won by a landslide and that it has the voting records to prove it.

The leftist Maduro government, brushing off accusations of authoritarianism, has resisted international pressure to release vote tally numbers to back up its claim of victory.

“Maduro and his representatives’ have tampered with the results of the July 28 presidential election, falsely claimed victory, and carried out wide-spread repression to maintain power by force,” a US National Security Council spokesperson said.

The seizure of the plane “is an important step to ensure that Maduro continues to feel the consequences from his misgovernance of Venezuela,” they added.

The United States, the European Union and several Latin American countries have refused to recognise Maduro as having won without seeing detailed voting results.

Violence that accompanied the protests left 27 people dead and at least 192 wounded.

Since 2005, Washington has imposed sanctions on Venezuela that target individuals and entities “that have engaged in criminal, antidemocratic, or corrupt actions,” according to a Congressional briefing document.

“In response to increasing human rights abuses and corruption by the government of Nicolas Maduro, in power since 2013, the Trump Administration expanded US sanctions to include financial sanctions, sectoral sanctions, and sanctions on the government.”