Lost Plane(Chris Larkin) Pirates Story.

Posted By: Big Red <chefbigred@hotmail.com>

Date: Monday, 28 May 2001, at 5:21 a.m.



Right before Christmas, I decided to book a much deserved rest for the wife and I. Two weeks in Cozumel and Cancun Mexico. I'd had enough of the Bahamas, Belize and Jamaica. They were all work islands that I saw on a regular basis. The night before we left, Murfy showed up. We have a big load of weed coming into Bimini from Columbia he said. I'm going on vacation, I said. He talked me out of it and the wife flew to Cozumel alone. I would meet her there in a few days. The load was supposed to be the biggest we had done! All boats and small planes would be needed to get it back to Florida. The plane from Columbia could land on the airstrip on north Bimini, but never take off again. Everyone was involved, from the police to customs, and it was a big pay day for all. With no lights on the runway at night, we had to load dozens of coffee cans with beach sand and gasoline. We lined them up on the runway and lit them up. A couple of the customs jeeps with the full headlight beamers were at the end of the runway. The docks at Buccaneer Inn were lined with boats. Only half a mile from the airstrip. Cubans, Columbians, and Ol Florida boy, smugglers like myself and my crew. I was flying home with Murfy clean the next day. I was there to put the boats together. I used everyone I knew. Everyone was happy to make a big paycheck. There were thousands of pounds on that plane from Columbia. Enough to leave the plane as a write off. It sat there for months and finally a crazy pilot got her in the air. I think they bought it from the government. All my boats made it home fine. Everyone had a great pay day, including myself. I made it to Cozumel, with lots of extra cash, and we stayed for over a month. When I got home, Murfy came by and he was a little pissed that a small single engine plane we had hired for that trip, with two crazy pilots, hadn't ever made it home. He figured they had ripped us off for 400 pounds of weed. He had checked all the airports looking for them in Lauderdale. I had my money, so I wasn't worried. I had turned him on to these two guys though. I made some calls with no luck. No one had seen them, none of their friends. I knew these guys were okay, but you never know when it comes to big money. I knew their plane was not the best. Maybe they went down I said, and did I ever call that one right. We chartered a plane and did a search. If they went down in shallow waters you could see them. Bimini was surrounded with crashed planes. Big ones, small ones. We spotted a small plane in the woods on north Bimini amongst the others. Just a short way from the airstrip. Apparently they took off that night and crashed shortly after. We landed and trekked into the woods. It was them alright, and both of them dead and decomposing fast. It was a first for me. This may sound a little morbid, but we got the weed out and I had Snake come get it in my boat and it finally made it home. We reported the plane the next day. No one had spotted it. There are so many, that they all thought it was an old one because it was hardly visible. That's how it was back then, and I had lost a few friends that never made the flights home from Jamaica, or where ever they grew weed. It was always a risky business!

Irie, Big Red

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