The professor, Miss Bikini World and the ‘plot’ that led to his drug arrest
A BRiTiSH scientist held in an Argentine jail on suspicion of drug smuggling claims he is the victim of a honey trap after being duped into believing he was starting a new life with a Czech glamour model.
Professor Paul Frampton was arrested in Buenos Aires after two kilos of cocaine were found in a suitcase he was carrying.
The academic insists he thought the case belonged to Denise Milani – an underwear model who won the Miss Bikini World title in 2007.
The 68-year- old professor said he had been exchanging messages with someone he thought was the model on a dating website.
After three months of correspondence, Professor Frampton, who was teaching at the University of North Carolina, agreed to meet his online ‘girlfriend’ in Bolivia before flying back to the US to start a new life with her.
But when no one turned up after ten days, he claims he was persuaded to travel to Argentina to catch up with her there instead.
Despite being stood up a second
‘She was my
project’
time, the professor says he agreed to carry a case he was told belonged to the model to Brussels. Days later he was arrested.
After languishing for six months in jail, the Oxford graduate says he now believes the mafia tricked him into carrying the drugs by posing as Miss Milani.
The divorcee, who is described as ‘naive’ by his ex-wife, said: ‘Perhaps i should have realised earlier but the fraudster was very good and very intelligent.
‘i never thought these sorts of people existed. For 11 weeks i thought i was chatting with an attractive woman.’
The professor claims he was given the suitcase at a hotel in Buenos Aires by an Hispaniclooking middle-aged man who told him it belonged to the 32- year-old model. He told an Argentine newspaper he planned to take the case to Brussels for a new meeting with his ‘girlfriend’ but changed his mind and was arrested as he tried to board a plane to Peru.
There is no suggestion the model had any involvement in the drugs smuggling plot – or knew the mafia was allegedly using her identity.
Professor Frampton, who is suffering from lung problems follow- ing his enforced stay in prison, added: ‘The person i thought was this woman told me she liked older men and was tired of doing photo sessions.
‘i fell for the story. Before my arrest on January 23 i was convinced i was chatting with a “her” and after a couple of weeks in prison, i realised it was a man, a criminal posing as this model.
‘“She” asked me if i could be proud of someone like “her”. it was quite convincing.
‘i found out i wasn’t going to meet her in Bolivia as planned the day i got there. i should have returned to the States right then.
‘But i always complete my plans, the same way i complete my physics papers. She was my project.’
The professor, who was born in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, is being held at Villa Devoto Prison in Buenos Aires.
Leading academics including 1979 Nobel prizewinner Sheldon Glashow, who has worked on more than a dozen scientific papers with Professor Frampton, have written to the judge in his case to plead his innocence.