Havana, Feb 14 (IANS): The Cuban government said it had returned a dummy US Hellfire missile, which was shipped to Havana by mistake from Europe in 2014.

The Hellfire, a laser-guided, air-to-surface missile, arrived in Havana in July 2014 on a flight from Paris due to a mistake or mishandling in the country of origin, Xinhua cited a declaration by Cuba's Foreign Ministry as saying on Saturday.

"It was worrying for Cuban authorities to see an American-made missile arrive in the country, without having been declared on the cargo manifest of the plane transporting it," it read.

As the US government made an official explanation to Havana and requested the missile's return, Cuba decided to initiate talks to return it, the declaration said.

The US defence experts travelled to Havana and brought the missile home on Saturday.

The Wall Street Journal, which was first to report the lost missile, said the missile was meant to be in Europe for a training exercise, but ended up in Cuba due to an unknown error.