After Panamanian authorities found anti-aircraft missiles and other weapons on board a North Korean vessel heading through the Panama Canal on its way home from Cuba, Panama said on Wednesday that it had formally requested the UN Security Council to investigate the ship. The Cuban government said in a statement that the Soviet-era defense equipment was being sent to North Korea for repairs and eventual return to the Caribbean island nation, calling them "obsolete". The Chong Chon Gang remained anchored on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal.
1. The ship has been suspected of transporting drugs in the past.
In fact, that's the reason Panamanian authorities gave for stopping and inspecting it as it crossed the Canal. The Stockholm International Peace Research institute says the Chong Chon Gang, built in 1977, has been stopped on suspicion of trafficking drugs and ammunition before. In February of 2010, Ukrainian authorities detained it in a Black Sea port and discovered it was carrying drugs described as "heroin substitute" in addition to undeclared alcohol, cigarettes and ammunition for AK-47 assault rifles. In March of that same year, Egyptian authorities cited it for carrying "dangerous goods", though no other details on what those goods might have been are available.
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2. The crew rioted when Panamanian authorities boarded.
Panama's Security Minister Jose Raul Mulino said that the 35 detained crew members would probably be charged with crimes against Panama's internal security. He added that authorities had been trying to question the crew but that they had remained tight-lipped. "They are very reluctant to speak," he said.
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Panama President Ricardo Martinelli said that the captain of the ship had a heart attack as Panama authorities prepared to board and that he had tried to kill himself shortly afterward.
3. It was the object of a pirate attack off the coast of Somalia in 2009.
The Chong Chon Gang had to flee when a speed boat launched from a pirate ship gave chase, firing RPG and automatic guns at it. The North Korean vessel was able to escape after the captain executed a number of evasive maneuvers successfully, though one crew member was said to have been injured from gunshots.
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4. It routinely went off the map of the International Automatic Identification System (AIS).
The AIS is a satellite-based system for transmitting the location of ships which the UN's International Maritime Organization requires all vessels over 300 tons to keep on at all times. After leaving a port in Vostochnyy, Russia on April 12, when it listed its destination as Havana, Cuba, the Chong Chon Gang stopped sending signals to the AIS, meaning the crew probably switched off the device which transmits it. It didn't reappear on the AIS system until May 31, when it was about 7,500 nautical miles away in Balboa, Panama.
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