14 DAY TRIAL // Officials in Panama have seized a ship transporting what original investigations report as missiles and other weaponry. The ship was not declared and it was intercepted on the Panama canal.
Euro News relays a statement by Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli who details that the ship was on route to North Korea.
However, the Cuban government has claimed ownership of the items on the ship. They have stated that they are parts meant for repairing in North Korea. They have described them as “obsolete” and dating back to the Soviet-era.
The shipment was tracked down and stopped by a drug enforcement squad acting on a tip by national intelligence agencies.
“This is something we were alerted to by Panamanian intelligence,” Martinelli has expressed in a statement.
“Panama is a peaceful country. Not one of war,” he added upon being alerted on the find.
Officers handling the bust have described the weapons as highly destructive aerial or defense devices.
The weapons, as well as large quantities of ammunition, have been discovered on the bottom of a sugar cargo, hidden in containers under the sugar pallets.
The crew displayed violent reactions to being stopped by law enforcement. The captain of the ship incurred a heart attack when the shipment was impounded. He survived, but later tried to commit suicide.
Police have not yet opened all the items on the ship as the sugar containers have to be searched and removed.
“It’s extremely sophisticated. It appears that these are aerial or defense missiles. We don’t know what’s in the other containers but we will have to take out all the sugar to determine what’s inside this ship,” Martinelli says.
It will take about a week to process all the 200,000 sacks of Cuban sugar that the weapons were buried under, Financial Times informs.