Missile Equipment Reportedly Discovered On North Korean Ship In Panama Canal

Is Kim Jong-un trying to start a new Cuban Missile Crisis?

Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli said late Monday that officials found "sophisticated missile equipment" hidden in the hull of a North Korean ship en route home from Cuba through the Panama Canal.

Panamanian officials at first suspected the ship, named the Chong Chon Gang, of carrying drugs and detained it near the Caribbean coast, according to the local newspaper La Prensa.

But later, Martinelli tweeted photos of what he called "war cargo" hidden in a shipment of sugar.

Shipping missiles or other arms would violate United Nations sanctions against North Korea, placed on the communist kingdom in 2006.

By Tuesday, neither the North Korean nor the Cuban governments had issued a public statement. The Panamanian embassy did not immediately respond to requests from International Business Times for comment.