Divers have captured amazing pictures of Pablo Escobar’s cocaine plane at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea.
The drug-running aircraft crashed into the water while trying to land on Norman’s Cay, the island initially earmarked for the controversial Fyre Festival, in 1980.
The Curtiss C-46 Commando – which was the largest twin-engine aircraft in the world at the time and able to transport large quantities of goods – overshot the runway before ultimately settling on the sea bed.
The island in the Bahamas is now a popular holiday destination, but historically was used by drug lords as an ideal hiding place and stopover for cocaine shipments to the US.
Between 1978 and 1982, it served as the headquarters of Carlos Lehder, one of the top operatives in Escobar’s Medellin Cartel.
These are the amazing pictures which show Pablo Escobar’s cocaine plane at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea
The drug-running aircraft crashed while trying to land on the controversial Fyre Festival island
The Curtiss C-46 Commando was the largest twin-engine aircraft in the world at the time and was deemed able to transport large quantities of goods
Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar was one of the world’s most notorious criminals in the 20th century
Norman’s Cay was then selected by fraudster Billy McFarland as the setting for his now notorious Fyre Festival.
McFarland leased the island from the current owners, who gave the strict condition that he make no reference to Escobar in any promotional material for the event.
To get some buzz going around the Fyre Festival, a slew of influencers and models were paid to visit the island in December 2016
But when McFarland then advertised the festival would be held on ‘Pablo Escobar’s private island’, the owners immediately cancelled their agreement with McFarland.
The festival went on to be the subject of worldwide notoriety, with two documentaries made about its spectacular series of bankruptcies and mishaps, which ultimately landed McFarland in jail.
Underwater photographer Ken Kiefer discovered the wreckage of the aircraft and said: ‘The plane wrecked during a drug run for Pablo Escobar.
‘It was super cool to see and be around a piece of history that is also now making a home for sea life.’
‘My wife Kimber dove around the wreck, checking out the plane and the fish life that has accumulated.’
During his time at the helm of the Medellin Cartel, Escobar controlled over 80 per cent of the cocaine shipped to the US, earning him the rank of one of Forbes Magazine’s ten wealthiest people in the world.
The island in the Bahamas is now a popular holiday destination, but historically was used by drug lords as an ideal hiding place and stopover for cocaine shipments to the US
However the flight in November 1980 overshot the runway before ultimately settling on the sea bed
During his time at the helm of the Medellin Cartel, Escobar controlled over 80 per cent of the cocaine shipped to the US, earning him the rank of one of Forbes Magazine’s ten wealthiest people in the world
Escobar entered the cocaine trade in the early 1970s, collaborating with other criminals to form the Medellin Cartel
By the mid-1980s, Pablo Escobar had an estimated net worth of $30 billion and cash was so prevalent that Escobar purchased a Learjet for the sole purpose of flying his money
To get some buzz going around the Fyre Festival, a slew of influencers and models were paid to visit the island in December 2016
Escobar entered the cocaine trade in the early 1970s, collaborating with other criminals to form the Medellin Cartel.
By the mid-1980s, Pablo Escobar had an estimated net worth of $30 billion and cash was so prevalent that Escobar purchased a Learjet for the sole purpose of flying his money.
More than 15 tons of cocaine were reportedly smuggled each day, netting the Cartel as much as $420 million a week.
For much of his time at the top of the narco heap, Escobar earned popularity by sponsoring charity projects and soccer clubs, sharing some of his riches with local communities and in doing so was painted as something of a Robin Hood figure.
But terror campaigns run by Escobar’s henchmen resulted in the murder of thousands, and slowly began turning the public against him – all while law enforcement agencies from the US were cooperating with Colombian police to tear down his empire.
Colombian law enforcement finally caught up to Escobar on December 2, 1993 in a middle-class neighbourhood in Medellin.
A firefight ensued and, as Escobar tried to escape across a series of rooftops, he and his bodyguard were shot and killed.
Source link
CHECK OUT: Top Travel Destinations
READ MORE: Travel News
