Cuban jets bound for N. Korea airworthy

Cuban jets bound for N. Korea airworthy
By McClatchy Newspapers
Published: Thursday, Oct. 10, 2013, 7:12 p.m.

PANAMA CITY — Two Cuban MiG-21 jet fighters found aboard a seized North
Korean cargo ship three months ago were in good repair, had been
recently flown and were accompanied by "brand-new" jet engines,
Panamanian officials say.

The assertions deepen the mystery around the Cuban military materiel
that was found aboard the 508-foot North Korean freighter Chong Chon
Gang, which Panamanian authorities intercepted July 10 off the Atlantic
entrance to the Panama Canal.

"They had jet fuel still inside their tanks," Foreign Minister Fernando
Nunez Fabrega said. "They were not obsolete and in need of repair."

One of the MiG-21s contained manuals and maintenance records that
indicated it was flying just a few months earlier, said prosecutor
Javier Caraballo, who's handling an arms trafficking case against the 35
North Korean crew members. Caraballo declined a reporter's request to
see the records.

In publicly acknowledging the shipment after it was discovered, Cuban
officials insisted that the ship was carrying only old aircraft and
other parts that were being sent to North Korea for repair when
Panamanian authorities, acting on a tip that it was carrying drugs,
intercepted it.

Panamanian officials now think that the shipment was part of what Nunez
Fabrega called "a major deal" between the two countries, though they
aren't certain of its scope.

Officials searching the vessel found the MiG aircraft in sealed
containers hidden under 100-pound bags of sugar — 10,000 tons worth — in
the ship's hold. They uncovered 15 jet engines and other weaponry.

"These are brand-new engines," Nunez Fabrega said. He said Cuban
officials in their public statement "generalized over very specific
items that could have gotten them in trouble," such as a guidance system
for anti-aircraft missile defense.

The United Nations has imposed an embargo on arms shipments to North
Korea stemming from that country's 2006, 2009 and 2013 nuclear tests.

Source: "Cuban jets bound for N. Korea airworthy | TribLIVE" -
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