KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- A cocaine smuggler who parachuted to his death may have piloted the plane to his jump-out point and let the aircraft cruise on auto-pilot until it crashed -- a new smuggling approach, federal agents said Thursday.
Ex-combat paratrooper Andrew Thornton, 40, of Paris, Ky., suspected leader of a notorious drug gang called 'The Company,' fell to his death in a Knoxville neighborhood while the Cessna 404 crashed in the Nantahala National Forest 70 miles away.
Knoxville Police Capt. Stan Bullen said he found on Thornton's body - along with 79 pounds of cocaine and survivalist gear -- a key that links the man with the plane that went down seven miles northeast of Hayesville, N.C., early Wednesday.
'He had a key on him that had a number, the same end number on the tail of the plane that crashed. We feel like that's a pretty good tie,' Bullen said.
Authorities found no bodies in the plane wreckage and no signs that anybody walked away from the scene.
Tony Acri, spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in Atlanta, said if Thornton intentionally crashed the plane, he invented a new smuggling technique.
Dropping drugs from the sky or dropping drug-laden skydivers is nothing new, but a one-man mission in which a parachutist-pilot sacrifices his plane is novel, he said.
'This technique I've never seen before,' Acri said.
'Most smugglers are willing to give up their vehicles -- be it an airplane, boat, car, truck or whatever,' he added. 'It's not uncommon for a smuggler to land in a field, take the stuff off and abandon the plane.'
A licensed pilot and former narcotics officer for the Lexington (Ky.) Police Department, Thornton carried a duffle bag containing cocaine with an estimated street value of at least $13 million and survivalist gear, including pistols, knives, food and night-vision goggles, police said.
'He was prepared for an unexpected landing but not the one he got,' Bullen said.
Authorities said Thornton served in the Army as a member of the 101st Airborne Division in the mid-1960s and was part of a contingent sent to the Dominican Republic to restore order during a revolution. During the occupation, Thornton was wounded and received a Purple Heart.
Records show Thornton joined the Lexington police department in 1968 and worked on the narcotics squad from 1970 to 1973. He resigned in 1977.
Authorities said he joined 'The Company,' described in a 1980 federal indictment in East St. Louis, Ill., as a nationwide drug and gun-running syndicate with more than 300 members and $26 million in boats, planes, vehicles and warehouses.
Federal officials said Thornton continued the operations of the gang after its suspected leader, Bradley Bryant also of Lexington, was jailed on federal drug charges in 1982.
A top official in the Justice Department in Kentucky said Thursday that Thornton's death may be the break agents need intheir five-year-old investigation of 'The Company.'
'This gives us a case to work with,' said the official, who requested anonymity.
