McAfee lands safely in Miami, takes taxi to South Beach hotel

John McAfee has reportedly landed safely in Miami.

The American Airlines plane carrying the anti-virus software pioneer touched down shortly before 7 p.m. EST, Miami International Airport spokesman Greg Chin told the Associated Press on Wednesday evening.

Chin said that after clearing customs, McAfee would be escorted by federal authorities out of public view.

“I was escorted off of the plaane [sic] by Customs and Immigration,� McAfee confirmed in a blog post titled “I am in South Beach.� The post was almost immediately removed, replaced with a request to “respect his privacy.�

McAfee said 10 agents “whisked me to a safe place, asked some questions, and then said, ‘Where would you like to go?’�

The officials then took him to a taxi stand, McAfee wrote. It’s unclear how he arrived and checked into the Beacon Hotel in South Beach, a detail a receptionist at the hotel confirmed to The Times.

McAfee wrote in his blog that he has “no phone, no money, no contact information.�

Still, it seems that McAfee’s troubles in Central America, where he is wanted for questioning in connection with the killing of his neighbor in Belize, and where he was arrested on suspicion of entering neighboring Guatemala illegally, may be on hold.

But the latest missive posted on his blog had none of the signature urgency of his dispatches from his life as a self-styled fugitive.

“Sam and Amy are in danger and need my help,� he wrote, instructing his acquaintances to “stay where you are. Do NOT move!!!!�

McAfee said he fears authorities in Belize are attempting to “collect� Sam, his 20-year-old girlfriend, who crossed into Guatemala with him but did not join him for the flight to the U.S.

Officials in Guatemala arrested McAfee a week ago after denying his request for political asylum, saying he had entered the country illegally. A judge ordered McAfee released Tuesday, calling his detention “illegal,� according to his lawyer, Telesforo Guerra.

McAfee has been on the run from officials in neighboring Belize for more than a month after being named a “person of interest� in the fatal shooting of his neighbor, American expatriate Gregory Faull.

Belize police maintain that they merely want to question McAfee, who lived near Faull on Ambergris Caye, an exotic Carribean island off the coast of Belize. But McAfee, who founded the antivirus company that still bears his name, has said he believes he’ll be killed if captured by Belize officials.

In recent days, the eccentric entrepreneur -- who has dabbled in yoga, ultralight aircraft and was said to keep numerous guns and young women at his Belize home -- has expressed a desire to return to the United States and live out his “declining years� in peace.

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