Bee-Filled North Korean Ship Finally Allowed to Return Home

A North Korean ship that was detained in Panama back in July will be allowed to sail home following its three-month ordeal. The ship was initially stopped on suspicion of drugs being transported, but instead, inspectors found missiles that had originated in Cuba.

While formal paperwork still has to be completed, Reuters reports that most of the crew—33 out of 35 members—likely did not know what cargo they were transporting and are not under suspicion. The ship's captain and his deputy, however, could still face charges since they refused to answers investigators' questions (the ship's captain also attempted to slit his own throat when the ship was initially seized).

After the ship was seized, Havana requested that Panama release it, claiming the vessel carried only the sugar cargo as a donation to the people of North Korea.

But once the arms were discovered beneath the sugar, the Cuban government acknowledged it was sending "obsolete" Soviet-era weapons, including two MiG jets, 15 MiG engines and nine anti-aircraft missiles, to be repaired in North Korea and returned.

Supplying arms to North Korea currently violates a seven-year-old UN ban on arms transfers to the country due to its nuclear program.

In addition, the sugar that failed to disguise the weapons cache also attracted so many bees to the boat, melting into a "molten brown" sludge that filled the ship's hold.