[190713.EN.SEA] Panama Stops North Korean-flagged Ship Carrying Suspected Missile Gear

PANAMA has detained a North Korean 13,990-dwt Chong Chon Gang, headed into Panama from Cuba with suspected missile equipment hidden under bags of sugar, after a standoff in which the ship's captain tried to commit suicide, Reuters reports.

President Ricardo Martinelli said the weapons were discovered during a inspection in which the ship was suspected of carrying illicit drugs. But Security Minister Jose Raul Mulino told Reuters it was unclear whether the cargo contained missiles.

But President Martinelli told local radio: "We found containers which presumably contain sophisticated missile equipment. That is not allowed. The Panama Canal is a canal of peace, not war."

A photo posted on the president Twitter page showed a long, green missile-shaped object with a tapering, conical end inside the ship that security experts said may have been radar equipment.

IHS Jane, a global analytics firm, said it had identified the equipment shown in the images as an SNR-75 Fan Song fire control radar for the SA-2 family of surface-to-air missiles.

"We have not seen any indication of the missile system itself, though it's entirely possible it's there," said Neil Ashdown, an IHS Jane defence analyst, adding that the radar is designed to detect enemy aircraft.

The Chong Chon Gang was tracked leaving Vostochnyy, Russia on April 12, according to Lloyd's List Intelligence. It was next registered arriving in Balboa, on the Panama Canal's Pacific side on May 31, and crossed the waterway the next day with a stated destination of Havana, Cuba.

Source : HKSG, 19.07.13.