The pensioner was held after leaving a flight from the Mexican resort of Cancun at Santiago Airport, where he had hoped to stay overnight and then catch a flight to Australia
A British pensioner faces years in one of South America’s most notorious prisons if convicted after allegedly being caught trying to smuggle five kilos of methamphetamine into Chile.
The 79-year-old was held after leaving a flight from the Mexican resort of Cancun at Santiago Airport. After spending the night at a hotel in the Chilean capital, he was booked on a flight to Sydney, Australia, the following day.
The unnamed pensioner was remanded in custody following a court appearance after a judge approved a prosecution request to send him to prison pending probable charges and trial. Cops say the drugs he was apprehended with would have been worth £200,000 on the streets of the South American country.
An official told the Mirror that anyone, including a foreign national, found guilty of the importation of such a quantity of drugs would be sent to Santiago’s brutal San Miguel Prison. The jail is notorious for its overcrowded conditions and a history of violence, including a deadly 2010 fire that killed 81 inmates.
The fire, which began during a fight between inmates, highlighted the state of Chile’s prison system. The prison was designed to house 900 inmates but holds up to 2,000 men.
“Anyone found guilty of importing drugs into Chile beyond what is classed as for personal use is sentenced to serve their time at San Miguel,” the official said.
“Five kilogrammes of methamphetamine is a quantity beyond what is acceptable for a lesser sentence, and if found guilty, the offence attracts up to 15 years in prison.”
The Brit was intercepted after his luggage was put through an airport scanner. The pensioner was asked to open his suitcase in front of police after they detected a “suspicious” substance and cops 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.
“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 added: “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, saying: “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.
“He was stopped after his luggage was scanned and has been remanded in custody.”
The drugs 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 as they got 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 May 18 British Airways flight to Gatwick.
Bella May Culley, 18, sparked a massive international search operation in early May after she was reported missing while she was believed to be holidaying in Thailand.
However, 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 (14kg) of cannabis into the ex-Soviet nation.
And recently 21-year-old Charlotte Lee May, from Coulsdon, south London, was 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.