A British pensioner has been arrested in Chile’s Santiago Airport after allegedly being caught trying to smuggle 11 pounds of methamphetamine into the country.
The 79-year-old man, whose identity has not been revealed, had arrived on a flight from Cancun, Mexico and was detained after a scanner detected a ‘suspicious’ substance in his suitcase.
He had been due to spend one night in a hotel in the Chilean capital before boarding a flight to Sydney, Australia the following day.
The pensioner appeared in court where a judge approved a prosecution request to remand him in custody pending likely charges and a trial.
Police say the drugs apprehended would have been worth around £200,000 on Chilean streets.
The Brit traveller was asked to open his suitcase in front of cops who discovered a secret compartment where the drugs had been packed.
Airport police chief Sergio Paredes said it was the first time the arrested man had entered Chile.
He said: ‘This person came from Mexico and when he was arrested and taken to the anti-narcotics squad’s airport offices, he said that the suitcase had been received by some Mexican nationals at Cancun airport.
A British pensioner, 79, was arrested in Chile’s Santiago Airport (pictured) after allegedly being caught trying to smuggle eleven pounds of methamphetamine into the country
Police say the drugs apprehended would have been worth around £200,000 on Chilean streets (Pictured: Stock image of Chilean police)
Chilean customs officers released pictures of the drugs (above) they had confiscated and said they had ‘intercepted a foreign citizen’
‘He was due to spend a night in a hotel in the centre of Santiago before boarding a flight to Sydney, Australia.’
Mr Paredes said police were still investigating whether the drugs were due to remain in Chile or be taken to Australia.
He told local press: ‘Prosecutors are looking into this and trying to establish whether the drug was for internal consumption or was due to be transported by this British national to Australia.’
Chilean customs officers released pictures of the drugs they had confiscated on X, saying they had ‘intercepted a foreign citizen’.
Their post read: ‘Customs officials intercepted a foreign citizen with more than five of kilos of methamphetamines hidden in a secret compartment in his luggage at Santiago Airport.
The pensioner had been due to spend one night in a hotel in the Chilean capital before boarding a flight to Sydney, Australia (pictured) the following day
‘He was stopped after his luggage was scanned and has been remanded in custody.’
The pensioner’s arrest is the latest in a series of similar recent apprehensions around the world involving British nationals – although most have been far younger than the man held in Chile.
Yesterday it emerged a British couple aged 33 and 34 had been held at Valencia airport after police discovered 33 kilos of cannabis in their luggage.
The pair claimed they were tourists coming from Thailand after they were intercepted coming off a flight from France.
A 23-year-old British woman in Ghana was arrested last week after being accused of attempting to bring up to 18kg of cannabis into the UK on a British Airways flight to Gatwick.
Yesterday it emerged a British couple aged 33 and 34 had been held at Valencia airport after police discovered 33 kilos of cannabis in their luggage (pictured)
Meanwhile Bella May Culley, 18, parked a massive international search operation in early May after she was reported missing while she was believed to be holidaying in Thailand.
It was later revealed that the teen, from Billingham, County Durham, had been arrested 4,000 miles away on drug offences in Georgia, allegedly carrying 30 pounds of cannabis into the ex-Soviet nation.
Recently 21-year-old Charlotte Lee May, from Coulsdon, south London, was also arrested in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo after police discovered 46 kg of ‘Kush’ – a synthetic strain of cannabis – in her suitcase.
The former flight attendant, facing up to 25 years in prison if convicted, is claiming she had ‘no idea’ about the drugs worth up to £1.2 million and insisting they must have been planted in her luggage without her knowledge.
