Reflagged tanker Sanctioned vessel monitored off Ireland

A hastily reflagged oil tanker 250 miles off the coast of Ireland is under US military surveillance after it evaded capture in the Caribbean Sea in December, changed its name and switched course towards northern Russia.

- Dan Sabbagh Rory Carroll

The Bella 1 changed its name to the Marinera, registered in Russia, and its crew painted a crude Russian flag on the side in apparent attempt to prevent a possible US seizure as it nears the British Isles.

It is one of about a dozen oil tankers that have been trying to escape a US naval blockade of Venezuela, though it is not carrying oil from the South American country, which was attacked by the US over the weekend.

Flight records show the Marinera appears to have been monitored over the last two days by US surveillance aircraft flying from RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk as it heads on a course that may cut into Ireland's economic waters, 230 miles from its coast.

A series of US transport flights into RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire in the past 36 hours has prompted speculation they are carrying helicopters that could be used by US special forces to take the ship. Two AC-130 helicopter gunships were also filmed arriving at Mildenhall on Sunday.