James Astill in Freetown
Monday July 7, 2003
The Guardian
A Boeing 727 cargo plane which caused panic among US intelligence
agencies after mysteriously disappearing from Angola's main airport
turned up last week in Guinea, the Guardian can reveal.
The plane, which was feared to be in the hands of international
terrorists, was spotted on June 28 in Conakry, Guinea's capital, by
Bob Strother, a Canadian pilot. It had been resprayed and given the
Guinean registration 3XGOM. But at least the last two letters of its
former tail-number, N844AA, were still showing.
The plane, which was recently converted into a fuel tanker, was said
to be owned by a member of West Africa's Lebanese business community,
and was being used to shuttle goods between Beirut and Conakry,
according to Mr Strother.
"There's absolutely no doubt it's the same aircraft, the old
registration is clearly visible," said Mr Strother by phone from
Conakry. "Whoever owns it must have some important friends to get it
re-registered in two days: going by the book, the whole process
usually takes a couple of months."
Western intelligence agencies were said to be scouring Africa's clear
skies and mouldering runways for the missing tanker, fearing that it
could easily be aimed at an American or British embassy on the
continent. Yet an American official in the region said this was the
first he had heard of the plane since its disappearance from Angola's
capital, Luanda, on May 25.
"People have been looking for this thing everywhere," the official
said. "We've had reports that it crashed, that it was in South Africa
or Nigeria, but nothing for sure, not like what you've just told me."
The Guardian was able to furnish the American official with a
photograph of the mystery plane, taken by Mr Strother.
Immediately after the plane's disappearance, unnamed US intelligence
sources told the Associated Press that it "mostly likely was taken for
a criminal endeavour such as drug or weapons smuggling". But they had
"not ruled out the possibility it was stolen for use in a terrorist
attack".
A US state department spokesman, Philip Reeker, said at the time:
"There is no particular information suggesting that the disappearance
of the aircraft is linked to terrorists or terrorism, but it's still
something that obviously we would like to get to the bottom of."
A western diplomat in Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital, said it was
more likely the plane had simply been snatched from Luanda be cause
its owner was reluctant to pay year-long airport taxes, totalling
around £30,000.
"There's always a shady side to business around here," he said. "But
as for the terrorism stuff, that sounds like a complete load of
rubbish."
Since being sighted last week, the plane has again taken off into
obscurity.
"We only saw it that one time, now it's gone," said Mr Strother.
"Maybe whoever owns it just wanted to drop by and pick up a Guinean
registration for convenience. Maybe it won't be back."