The missing 727 has been found.

Immediately after its disappearance, American intelligence operators said “the plane mostly likely was taken for a criminal endeavour such as drugs or weapons smuggling”. But, they did not rule out the possibility it was stolen for use in a terrorist attack and were making every effort to get to the bottom of the mystery.

A Western diplomat in Freetown, Sierra Leone?s capital, said it was more likely the plane had simply been snatched from Luanda because its owner was reluctant to pay year-long airport taxes, totalling $50,000 (