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McAfee taking it Belize-y

Anti-virus guru John McAfee dodged cops in Belize who came to his beachfront home to question him about a neighbor’s murder by hiding in the sand and breathing through a cardboard box he put over his head.

“It was extraordinarily uncomfortable,’’ McAfee told Wired magazine.

“But they will kill me if they find me.’’

McAfee, the 67-year-old founder of the software company that bears his name, has been on the lam since Sunday afternoon after his neighbor Gregory Faull was found shot in the head and cops came to McAfee’s compound to talk to him.

Wired said McAfee declared his innocence — and wondered if he was the intended target instead of Faull, who lived just a few doors away.

“The first thing I thought about was ‘Oh, my God, he’s white man, I’m a white man,’ ” he told contributing editor Joshua Davis.

“The government finally decided to off me. They got the wrong white man since we live almost live next door.”

The magazine’s Web site has an audio of McAfee’s phone call from Belize.

McAfee — his voice clear and calm, belying his freaked-out, paranoid words — told the magazine he’s changed his appearance and hopes to hide in a house for as long as possible.

He hopes to speak out against government corruption in the Central American country until he’s caught.

“I don’t know what the end game is. The end game is, obviously given enough time, they will track me down,” he said.

“In the meantime, I’d like to get out as much information as I can about the wrongs in this country — and the wrongs are not the people.”

McAfee, who told Wired he has evaded cops by finding hiding places in boats and sleeping on lice-infested mattresses, said there was no way he would agree to speak to police.

“Under no circumstances am I going to willingly talk to the police in this country,’’ the Web site quoted him as saying.

“You can say I’m paranoid about it, but they will kill me, there is no question. They’ve been trying to get me for months. They want to silence me. I am not well-liked by the prime minister. I am just a thorn in everybody’s side,’’ he said.

Earlier this year authorities raided his property and alleged he was manufacturing methamphetamines — but the charges were dropped.

McAfee insisted he wouldn’t know how to make or sell drugs, and he certainly wouldn’t want to take any.

“I’m stupid enough without drugs. My wife is f–ked up enough without drugs,” he said. “I don’t need to add to it.”

One recent subject of contention in the neighborhood has been McAfee’s dogs. Neighbors, including Faull, had been complaining about their barking.

Marco Vidal, the head of Belize’s Gang Suppression Unit, told Wired that McAfee is a “prime suspect’’ in Faull’s death.

Despite his troubles, McAfee has no plans to get out of Belize. “I like it here,’’ he’s quoted as saying. “It’s the nicest place on earth.’’

McAfee said he’s not violent. “ I do not think I am a psychopath,” he said. “I tend to love people.’’