Panama Found North Korean Ship with Weapons Hidden in Sugar Containers,

I have a few minutes to post this one before going to work, no good.....no good.

PANAMA CITY - Panama has detained a North Korean-flagged ship coming from Cuba as it approached the Panama Canal with undeclared weapons, President Ricardo Martinelli said.

The weapons, hidden in containers of brown sugar, were detected after Panamanian authorities stopped the ship, suspecting it was carrying drugs.

The vessel was pulled over near the port of Manzanillo on the Atlantic side of the canal.

According to statements made to Radio Panama, Martinelli added that "the ship was bringing sugar, removing the first litter found military equipment.'s Crew refused to cooperate".

According to the President the captain attempted suicide when discovered.

worldnews.nbcnews.com...

www.prensa.com...

Good thing that a nuclear weapon wasn't detonated in the Panama Canal. That would seriously disrupt international commerce. I wonder what kind of weapons they were and where they were headed for the captain to be instructed to commit suicide.

reply to post by Adaluncatif


My guess would be he was not instructed, but so scared of either being interrogated in Panama or worse, back in DPRK. Death may be luckier than spending the rest of your life in a prison camp for failure....

reply to post by Trueman


S&F Great find.

So was this ship coming from Cuba going home? It will be interesting to see exactly what kind of weapons they were sneaking and if they are on their way to NK.

Wait for Iran, Hezbollah and anyone else we currently don't like to be brought into the mix!

Reminds me of the ship searched in a Finnish port a couple of years or so ago, that was found to contain about 70 or so Patriot missiles (in launch tube assemblies) and several tons of explosives. That one sure went down the rabbit hole and all reporting stopped pretty damned quick. I mean, it's not like Patriot Missiles are available to just anyone on the open market, like a well used AK-47!

I'm sure there is a hell of a lot of government sanctioned arms smuggling that goes on, using foreign flagged ships and undeclared / hidden cargo. As with all things, it should be a simple case of following the money trail to find out who paid for it all, but I doubt that will happen as it could cause embarrassment to people in high places.

This came after months of heightened tensions due to missile and nuclear bomb tests by the North, during which it threatened to launch a pre-emptive nuclear strike against U.S. and South Korean targets.

There are fears Pyongyang is trying to build a missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead to the U.S.

^Things like this...

and everybody still wants to rag on the 'Evil' U.S. - the only ones who can save your a**.

Probably just bottle rockets.

Did they really think that Panama doesn't take security seriously?

The canal is a major global security interest.

I'm sure they are well trained.

The North Koreans would be better off stealing plans and importing raw materials to make their own weapons.

reply to post by Trueman


Just wanted to make a point of clarification:

A North Korean-flagged ship carrying what is believed to be “sophisticated missile equipment” hidden in sugar containers was stopped while returning home from Cuba, Panamanian officials said late Monday.

Though the implications are somewhat similar, that being The movement of military hardware presumably by North Korea, there is a significant difference between moving equipment compared to the reactive parts of weapons.

The title of the OP seems to imply that actual weapons have been seized. The article sourced does not appear to mention this.

Putting North Korea aside for a moment, what kind of ramifications will this have for Cuba, if this is all verified?

reply to post by Trueman




People like a mystery well here is a rather interesting story.


I'm going to follow this one.

I'm sorry for the captain, his family is probably underway to labour camp.

Originally posted by SLAYER69
reply to post by Trueman

 

People like a mystery well here is a rather interesting story.


I'm going to follow this one.

I quite agree with you Slayer. It almost has the beginning of some Tom Clancy novel. Sure authorities found the military equipment, but maybe a weapon has gone missing...dun dun daah

Pending the veracity of this report, we can only imagine the backlash that Cuba and North Korea may face as a result of this.

However, is it just me or is it a little cliche to have the rusted out ship with a big flag of North Korea, hauling military equipment? Seems a bit obvious.

Go Panama! I'm happy to see they acted on this and released the information,

Originally posted by MDDoxs
reply to post by Trueman

 

Just wanted to make a point of clarification:

A North Korean-flagged ship carrying what is believed to be “sophisticated missile equipment” hidden in sugar containers was stopped while returning home from Cuba, Panamanian officials said late Monday.

Though the implications are somewhat similar, that being The movement of military hardware presumably by North Korea, there is a significant difference between moving equipment compared to the reactive parts of weapons.

The title of the OP seems to imply that actual weapons have been seized. The article sourced does not appear to mention this.

Putting North Korea aside for a moment, what kind of ramifications will this have for Cuba, if this is all verified?

edit on 16-7-2013 by MDDoxs because: (no reason given)

At the original time these sources were posted, their information was exactly what the op states, including the title. Now as we all know very well here on ATS, as more and clearer information comes forward, the original story gets updated and changed.

reply to post by CalibratedZeus


Yes, I presumed this was a case where the story has been revised to reflect new details. I am not condemning the OP for that, just bringing attention to the updated information.

It happens all to often that a journalist wanting to break a sensationalist story first, forgoes due process and fact checks.

In any case, the importance and seriousness of this event remains unchanged.

Originally posted by MDDoxs
However, is it just me or is it a little cliche to have the rusted out ship with a big flag of North Korea, hauling military equipment? Seems a bit obvious.

N Korean ship traverses between Cuba and N Korea. Interesting hidden cargo found.

Yeah does sound a bit fishy. I'd love to hear Cuba and North Korea explain it.

It looks like they were trying to smuggle Nuclear armed HP Pencils..

Adding another source with my phone :

www.telegraph.co.uk... l.html

Knowing Kim, he probably treid to cross the border with one stuffed down his pants whilst whistling and looking the other way.

North Korea are terrible at being North Korea........

reply to post by iunlimited491


Please......

Originally posted by douggie60
HP Pencils.

Hewlett Packard or Harry Potter.