By Matt Spetalnick and Jasper Ward

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States has seized a plane used by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and flown it from the Dominican Republic to Florida after determining that its purchase violated U.S. sanctions, the U.S. Justice Department said on Monday.

The seizure of the aircraft came amid continuing pressure on Maduro at home and abroad over a contested July 28 election that he claimed to have won, while the opposition said its vote tallies showed its candidate to have soundly defeated him.

Maduro, his associates and the OPEC member-state’s vital oil sector are under heavy U.S. sanctions, and his handling of the election has raised the prospects that further measures could be imposed.

U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that the Dassault Falcon 900EX aircraft was illegally purchased for $13 million through a shell company and smuggled out of the U.S. “for use by Nicolás Maduro and his cronies.”

“Let this seizure send a clear message: aircraft illegally acquired from the United States for the benefit of sanctioned Venezuelan officials cannot just fly off into the sunset,” said Matthew Axelrod, the U.S. Commerce Department’s Assistant Secretary for Export Enforcement.

U.S. officials said the seizure, which was first reported by CNN, was carried out working closely with the Dominican Republic.

The Venezuelan government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“This is an important step to ensure that Maduro continues to feel the consequences from his misgovernance of Venezuela,” said a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council.

A wide range of independent sources has shown that Maduro and his representatives “have tampered with the results of the July 28 presidential election, falsely claimed victory and carried out widespread repression to maintain power by force,” the spokesperson added.

A Justice Department investigation showed that in late 2022 and early 2023 “persons affiliated with Maduro allegedly used a Caribbean-based shell company to conceal their involvement in the illegal purchase of the Dassault Falcon 900EX aircraft.”

The plane was then illegally exported from the United States to Venezuela through the Caribbean last year and since then has flown to and from a Venezuelan military base and been used “for the benefit of Maduro and his representatives, including to transport Maduro on visits to other countries,” the Justice Department said.

(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Jasper Ward; editing by Ross Colvin and Sandra Maler)