Seized Cuban jets bound for North were ready to fly

PANAMA CITY - Two Cuban fighter jets seized from a North Korean ship in July were in perfect operational condition and the 15 aircraft engines found along with them were relatively new and could be used as replacements, a Panamanian official said Friday.

The comments by Belsio Gonzalez, director of Panama’s National Aeronautics and Ocean Administration, appear to contradict the explanation of the cargo given by Cuban authorities.

The Chong Chon Gang was intercepted July 15 in the Panama Canal with 25 containers of Cuban military equipment found under 10,000 tons of sugar.

The equipment was not listed on the ship’s manifest. The ship’s captain and 35 crew members remain in custody in Panama.

After the seizure, Cuba said the cargo included “obsolete defensive weapons” including two MiG-21 fighter jets and 15 motors, nine missiles in parts, and two anti-aircraft systems that were being shipped to North Korea “to be repaired and returned.”

But Gonzalez said in an e-mail Friday the fighter jets “are in operational condition and their engines are in excellent shape.”

He said the planes were iconic in the 1960s and 1970s and their navigation systems are obsolete compared to jets built in recent decades, “but they are still fighter planes.”

A Panamanian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to be quoted by name, said the aircraft had fuel in them, which suggests they had recently been used.

“To say they are obsolete is incorrect,” the official said.

The officials said the weapons’ shipment was part of an agreement between Cuba and North Korea and that Havana was going to receive $200 million for them.

Cuban authorities did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

A UN panel of experts monitoring sanctions against North Korea visited Panama in mid-August to investigate the arms seizure.

But its report has yet to be made public.

UN sanctions state that member states shall prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer of all arms and materiel to North Korea and related spare parts, except for small arms and light weapons.

AP