A frenzied shriek over the airwaves was the only response to the controller’s repeated warnings and requests for aircraft identification. A few tense moments later the unidentified plane crashed just east of the airport and nearly caused an air to ground collision as a midsize jet was taxing down the runway after being cleared for takeoff earlier. None of the crash investigators were really surprised that no survivors or human remains were found amid the doomed vessel after a cursory examination of the crash site. Not because the plane had completely disentrigated as is often the case. Amazingly, the vast majority of the plane’s hull and cabin were still intact and no explosion or fire had occurred. After closer inspection they realized it was because the fuel tanks were completely empty. One thing that did puzzle them initially was the very odd combination of forty five sticks of dynamite; which luckily hadn’t detonated; and the bodies of twenty seven chimpanzees. “There wouldn’t have been anything left of the plane if it still had fuel.”; They reasoned. The obvious truth was that the plane had been piloted by animal smugglers. These unscrupulous criminals were lured by the unsavory fortunes offered to smuggle primates to U.S. experimental labritories. Another curious aspect of the crash was the location of some of the dead apes. They were scattered throughout the plane instead of being in cages or crates as wild animals usually are when being transported. Three were even in the cockpit area. The smugglers had simply miscalculated their fuel supply and had bailed out shortly before the crash or hastily made their escape afterward as the fire trucks and emergency vehicles screamed to the scene. “Perhaps the loose chimps had distracted them from checking the fuel gauge.”; The inspectors theorized. An all points bulletin was put out for at least two unknown suspects the authorities knew it required to fly the plane. Since it crashed near the runway it was assumed the suspects were still close by. After running the plane’s identification number through the computer to determine the owner it was discovered to have been reported stolen earlier that morning from a large land development company. The mid-sized cargo plane had been hijacked from an airfield over four hundred miles away at the edge of the jungle near their construction site. Of great suspicion to the investigators was the fact that the company’s headquarters was only a few miles away from where it went down. It seemed to be quite a “coincidence” that of all the places the smugglers could have went with their contraband, their destination was so nearby to whom they had stolen it from. That revelation brought up many unanswered questions which needed to be taken up with the owner. He agreed to come in for questioning and to give a statement.. When asked why the explosives hadn’t been reported stolen along with the plane, the developer replied that he had no knowledge of it. He further explained that he hadn’t even been told about the missing plane until an hour beforehand by the site foreman. His explanation and genuinely confused expression satisfied the police but they had been given strict instructions to detain him until he could be further interviewed by a federal agent who was on the way there. In all investigations involving illegal transportation of deadly explosives, animal smuggling, and aircraft high jacking the government takes over the case and assumes jurisdiction since criminal offenses of that nature threaten national security and are extremely serious. Also investigated very seriously are suspected cases of insurance fraud and false theft reports; which was exactly what was suspected under the circumstances. They wanted to judge for themselves if the developer had anything to hide before releasing him. Later when he arrived; the agent formally introduced himself as Special Operations Investigator Joe Harris. He removed his mirrored sunglasses and deftly placed them in the coat pocket of his dark, tailored suit. After taking a few minutes to familiarize himself with the facts of the case from the investigators who had examined the crash site and the police officers who interrogated the owner, he proceeded to the interrogation room for the questioning. Recently the government had tightened down on animal smuggling after U.S. animal right’s organizations put pressure on them. Most officials resented interference into state affairs by the same country that created the incentive for smuggling in the first place but the American tourist dollar was a major part of their economy. They couldn’t afford to ignore the animal rights groups since they were such a powerful lobby but it would have made much more sense for them to tackle the problem from where it started; the U.S. Being a country with extreme poverty made this lure of riches simply too tempting to their poor countrymen. In the interrogation room the agent questioned the owner with deliberate repetitiveness to determine if the same answer was given each time it was asked. This particular method of interrogation is called recollective continuity and is considered one of the best techniques for uncovering the truth about the subject’s statement. In this case however, the developer seemed to be telling the truth so he was cleared of suspicion and released. Two days later Agent Harris flew to the construction site and began interviewing laborers about the theft. As his first subject he chose the construction foreman since he had been the one to report the theft. From there he planned on working his way down throughout the ranks of workers and contractors. During the interview the foreman went over the events of the day leading up to the robbery. When the agent mentioned the strange circumstance of the chimpanzees being loose on the plane instead of being caged, the foreman offered: “I don’t guess it would have done any good to cage the little bastards!” When asked for further clarification the foreman explained that for months chimpanzees had been breaking into their supply hut and stealing food and snacks at night. Finally sensing what he meant by his previous statement the agent dropped his serious disposition and asked with a humorous overtone; “Well, didn’t you lock it?” To that the foreman replied that at first there didn’t seem to be any need to but eventually the supplies started disappearing and couldn’t be accounted for. “That still doesn’t prove that...” “I hid outside one night and waited to catch the thief and saw with my own eyes!”; He interrupted. “Those harry rascals crept over quietly and pulled the stick out of the lock flap and helped themselves to several cookies before I chased them off!”; He continued. Agent Harris broke into an ‘ear to ear’ grin. “You guys never heard of a padlock?” “Of course we’ve heard of padlocks.”; He sneered. Joe’s sarcasm had clearly annoyed him. “But that didn’t do any good either! They must have watched us put up the key on the pegboard next to the bulldozer keys because the next day more food was missing and the supply hut’s key was on the wrong hook. I thought one of the men was playing a joke on me but I’ll be damned if we didn’t catch one of them the next morning ‘red handed’ trying to put back the key with a candy bar in his other hand!” “You mean to tell me the apes were unlocking the padlock with the key?”; Joe grinned. “Not only that; they were locking it back so we couldn’t tell!” Agent Harris roared with laughter. “I’m tellin’ ya’, those monkeys are smart. They were sneaking into our R & R lounge and watching T.V. at night! We never caught ‘em doing it but we could tell they had been in there because our generator was nearly ran down every morning and muddy paw prints were everywhere!” “Well; so much for the ‘perfect crime’!” A hilarious vision flashed in Joe’s mind of the chimpanzees sitting around the lounge watching “Bedtime for Bonzo” while eating popcorn and wearing human clothes. Slowly he rose from the chair and thanked the foreman for his assistance and the very amusing story. “The crazy things I encounter at this job!”; he thought to himself. One by one, Agent Harris eliminated all the workers as suspects at the development complex after he took statements from them. They had all given similar accounts of the events which took place on the day of the theft and all had “iron clad” alibis. About the only interesting facts of the whole investigation was that the chimps there in the jungle had a preference for American candy bars and old war movies. That last bit of information came from the workers who had to clean up after the rogue primates but he certainly wasn’t going to put any of that in his report! There didn’t seem to be any further information to uncover at the construction site so he prepared his things for the return trip where he would renew the investigation at the crash site. Unfortunately his summation was wrong and all the evidence he needed to solve the case was right there at the construction site “under his nose” but he refused to see it! He wasn’t alone in being oblivious because no one else would have been able to accept the true facts of the mystery either. Slowly but surely the jungle was being bulldozed down to make room for man’s progress and the “rascals” were watching their home disappear. Since fruit is their primary source of food and the trees are also their source of swinging and recreation, they began to suffer losses of both as they were cut down. It was only natural that they would resort to raids on the supply hut and then later the R & R lounge to seek food and recreation since the source of both for them were becoming increasingly scarce. There in the lounge the Chimpanzees learned about war and bombing missions while watching T.V. They wanted to extract revenge on the humans who were responsible for destroying their home so the supply plane seemed to be the only way. Many times they had witnessed the destructive power of dynamite while watching human’s blow up tree stumps out of the ground for clearing land so they simply navigated toward “enemy headquarters” for a retaliatory strike. Only a little more fuel stood in the way of blowing up the land developer’s office and extracting justice! Still; I know that many readers will refuse to believe this is simply a case of “monkey see, monkey do” but look at me for proof! I learned to type while watching the same T.V. as the other chimpanzees and I would have been on the bombing raid too if I hadn’t broken my leg stealing this typewriter and paper out of the office! Who ho ho he who who!
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