As North Korea opened its first ski resort, questions have arisen over how it managed to obtain new Canadian snowmobiles, Swedish snow-blowers and Italian and German snow ploughs despite United Nations sanctions, the Telegraph said.

A “Ski-Doo” Snowmobile manufactured by Canadian owned Bombardier Recreational Products & Vehicles was visible in pictures circulated by AFP, while at least seven snow blowers produced by Sweden’s Areco and at two snow ploughs produced by Italy’s Prinoth were visible in pictures released Thursday. A further snow plough produced by Germany’s Pisten Bully was also visible.

“On the face of it snowmobiles are clearly luxury goods and so their sale to the DPRK is banned by the UN Security Council. If they are not on the banned list of the relevant exporting country, they should be,” one UN sanctions expert who requested anonymity told the Telegraph.

“Switzerland determined that equipment for a ski resort was banned, so this would include snow ploughs too,” the expert added.