Anti-virus software developer John McAfee arrives in US

US software guru John McAfee fled to Guatemala last week from neighbouring Belize where authorities want to question him about a murder.

Miami: Anti-virus software founder John McAfee has arrived in the US after being deported from Guatemala, where he had sought to evade police questioning in the killing of a man in neighbouring Belize, an airport official said here on Thursday.

The American Airlines commercial jet carrying McAfee landed in Miami shortly before 1900 hrs IST last night, said Miami International Airport spokesman Greg Chin. A short time later, a posting on McAfee`s website announced that he was at a hotel in Miami`s upscale South Beach neighbourhood. McAfee said he arrived by taxi after a group of customs or immigration agents, he didn`t know which, escorted him to an airport taxi stand. He has frequently communicated through the website. "I have no phone, no money, no contact information," the post said. Reached by telephone at the hotel, the 67-year-old McAfee told a news agency’s reporter that he couldn`t talk because he was waiting for a call from his girlfriend, 20-year-old Belizean Samantha Vanegas. Vanegas had accompanied him when he was on the run, but did not go with him to the US. On a blog he has been posting for the past two weeks, McAfee wrote, "I have been forcibly separated from Sam," but claimed she would be coming to the United States later. McAfee was detained last week for immigration violations after he sneaked into Guatemala. He was in hiding in Belize for weeks after police pronounced him a person of interest in the killing. McAfee has said he feared he would be killed if he turned himself in to Belizean authorities. Belize`s Prime Minister, Dean Barrow, has expressed doubts about McAfee`s mental state, saying: "I don`t want to be unkind to the gentleman, but I believe he is extremely paranoid, even bonkers." McAfee is an acknowledged practical joker who has dabbled in yoga, ultra-light aircraft and the production of herbal medications. He has led an eccentric life since he sold his stake in the software company named after him in the early 1990s and moved to Belize about three years ago to lower his taxes. PTI