NKorean freighter caught with undeclared weapons sails off to Cuba
15 February 2014, 19:01
A North Korean ship caught in July while trying to move undeclared Cuban weapons through the Panama Canal left Saturday to return to Cuba, the Foreign Ministry said. The Chong Chon Gang freighter disembarked from the Panamanian port of Colon with a crew of 32 on its way back to Cuba, the ministry said in a statement.
The ship got the green light last week to leave Panama after Pyongyang paid a fine of nearly $700,000.Back in July, en route from Cuba, the ship was stopped on suspicion of carrying drugs as it tried to enter the canal, the busy waterway linking the Caribbean and Pacific.
Panama releases 32 N Koreans in arms case - official
Panamanian authorities have released 32 of the 35 North Koreans detained since July after an undeclared cargo of Cuban arms was found on their ship, prosecutors said Thursday.
'On Tuesday, the organized crime office ordered the release of 32 crew members of the 'Chong Chon Gang,'' the prosecutor in the case Nahaniel Murgas told reporters, adding they were turned over to immigration authorities.
The remaining three North Koreans will go to trial on arms trafficking charges, Murgas said.
The North Korean freighter was stopped July 10 on suspicion of carrying drugs as it tried to enter the Panama Canal.
Instead, a search uncovered 25 containers of Cuban military hardware, including two Soviet-era MiG-21 aircraft, air defense systems, missiles and command and control vehicles.
Earlier this month, Panamanian officials said North Korea had agreed to pay a $666,000 fine for release of the crew and ship.
It was unclear whether North Korea had made that payment.
Authorities have said that crew members could face sentences of up to 12 years in prison if convicted of arms smuggling charges.
Both Havana and Pyongyang said the weapons aboard the freighter were obsolete Cuban arms being shipped to North Korea for refurbishment under a legitimate contract.
Panama, however, said the shipment violated the UN arms embargo against North Korea.
The UN has yet to make an official determination on the shipment.
Panama slaps $1 million fine on N. Korean ship
The Panama Canal Authority announced Thursday that it slapped a $1 million fine on a North Korean cargo ship caught with an undeclared shipment of Cuban weapons in July.
The canal administrator, Jorge Quijano, said the ship was sanctioned because 'it put our canal and our people at risk to a certain point.'
The fine was delivered to the freighter's captain and owners, he said, adding that the boat is barred from unmooring until they pay at least two-thirds of the penalty, or around $650,000. He said the penalty could change depending on the response of the ship's owners, but they have not replied.
The Panamanian government said last month that a United Nations report found that the shipment was a violation of UN sanctions against arms transfers to North Korea's communist regime.
The ship, the Chong Chon Gang, was intercepted on July 10 as it tried to enter the Panama Canal on suspicion it was carrying drugs. Authorities instead uncovered 25 containers of military hardware. Both Havana and Pyongyang said they were 'obsolete' Cuban arms being shipped to North Korea for refurbishment under a legitimate contract.
The communist allies did not explain why the items were buried under more than 200,000 sacks of sugar inside the ship.
The ship's 35 crew members are being detained at a former US military base in Panama on arms trafficking charges.
They face up to 12 years in prison if convicted.
Voice of Russia, AFP
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