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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 鈥渂rand-new鈥� 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.

鈥淭hey had jet fuel still inside their tanks,鈥� Foreign Minister Fernando Nunez Fabrega told McClatchy in an interview earlier this month. 鈥淭hey were not obsolete and in need of repair.鈥�

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鈥檚 handling an arms trafficking case against the 35 North Korean crew members. Mr. Caraballo declined a reporter鈥檚 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 Mr. Nunez Fabrega called 鈥渁 major deal鈥� between the two countries, though they aren鈥檛 certain of its scope.

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

鈥淭hese are brand-new engines,鈥� Nunez Fabrega said. He said Cuban officials in their public statement also 鈥済eneralized over very specific items that could have gotten them in trouble,鈥� 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鈥檚 2006, 2009, and 2013 nuclear tests. A six-member UN team led by David Martin Uden, a former British diplomat who鈥檚 the coordinator of a UN unit that monitors enforcement of those sanctions, examined the seized armaments during a visit to Panama in mid-August.

Reached by telephone, Mr. Uden said his office 鈥渃an鈥檛 comment on what we found down in Panama.鈥�

The UN monitoring team still seeks answers from Cuba about the arms shipment, and the team will provide a UN sanctions committee with a detailed report once it has those answers.

A senior aide to the foreign minister, Tomas A. Cabal, said the deal had been arranged at a meeting June 29 in Havana among Cuban leader Raul Castro, Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces Gen. Leopoldo Cintra Frias, and Kim Kyok Sik, who was then the chief of the Korean People鈥檚 Army general staff. Mr. Kim was dismissed from his post in August, a month after the ship was seized.

Mr. Cabal said 鈥渇riends overseas鈥� had told Panama that the two MiG-21s were part of a larger deal between Cuba and North Korea for 12 jet fighters. That assertion couldn鈥檛 be independently confirmed.

Meanwhile, the 35 crew members from the Chong Chon Gang are biding their time at a former US military base near the Panama Canal. It鈥檚 not exactly hard time, officials say. In fact, it鈥檚 better than living aboard the vessel, which reeked of poor hygiene when it was seized.

Caraballo said the crew members, while under armed guard, were enjoying conditions that were 鈥�10 times better than where they were.鈥�

鈥淭hey are quite comfortable,鈥� Caraballo said. 鈥淭hey鈥檝e been given clean clothing, food, cigarettes to smoke. . . . They have a television. They can play soccer each afternoon.鈥�

They live in air-conditioned quarters, a physician attends to them, and a telephone is available for them to communicate with the North Korean Embassy in Havana, he said. Panama doesn鈥檛 have diplomatic relations with North Korea.

While the ship鈥檚 crew and captain have offered statements through Korean translators brought in from Mexico, they鈥檝e refused to sign the depositions, Caraballo said.

It hasn鈥檛 been decided what will happen to the weaponry that was aboard the ship.

Panama is treading lightly in the case, wary of angering Cuba, which Nunez Fabrega said was 鈥渙ne of the biggest customers of the free zone鈥� in Colon, where it buys abundant goods as a consequence of the five-decade-old US embargo on the island. A ship travels weekly from Colon to Havana to supply Cuba鈥檚 tourist hotels.

Caraballo, a drug prosecutor who was summoned to handle the seized ship because initial reports said it was carrying narcotics, said the captain had affirmed that he knew containers were in the hold but 鈥渄idn鈥檛 know what was in the containers.鈥�

The North Koreans have been charged with arms trafficking, which could carry up to a 12-year term, Caraballo said.

But Nunez Fabrega said Panama was eager for the crew and ship to be on their way once North Korea settles a fine of up to $1 million imposed by the Panama Canal Authority for endangering the waterway by transporting undeclared weaponry.

鈥淲e have no interest in keeping that boat here,鈥� Nunez Fabrega said, noting that it鈥檚 the largest freighter in North Korea鈥檚 merchant fleet.

As for the seized sugar, it鈥檚 being kept in silos in Penonome in central Panama鈥檚 Cocle province, Caraballo said. What will happen to it is unclear. 鈥淭his sugar may last there another 10 months without it being damaged,鈥� he said.