Relatives of a bowls-loving British pensioner ‘found with £200,000 meth’ in Chile have revealed the 79-year-old had ‘lost his life savings’ after being scammed.
William ‘Billy Boy’ Eastment faces dying behind bars because police intercepted him at Santiago Airport with the class A drug on May 18.
He arrived on a flight from Cancun and was booked to travel to Sydney in Australia the following day having been allegedly promised £4,000 by a Mexican gang to smuggle the suitcase.
But now, Eastment’s younger sister, Jennifer, 78, has spoken out saying the OAP is ‘just so gullible’ and ‘he’s not a bad person’.
It comes as he was known by neighbours in his home village of Milborne Port, Somerset as quiet and ‘just a simple pensioner’.
Speaking to The Mirror at her home in Cwmbran, South Wales, Jennifer said the fact her younger brother had informed police he was unaware the suitcase contained drugs was ‘him to a T’.
She told of how the retired goods and bus fitter was left scrambling for cash after handing over thousands to Nigerian scammers.
Jennifer said of Eastment’s arrest: ‘He is just so gullible. If someone gave him a story like that about needing something delivered and he would get paid for it, he wouldn’t think about drugs or anything like that.
A bowls-loving British pensioner who was ‘found with £200,000 meth’ in Chile has been pictured
Eastment was known by neighbours in his home village of Milborne Port, Somerset as a quiet OAP and ‘just a simple pensioner’ who liked fishing
Chilean customs intercepted the suitcase allegedly carried by William “Billy Boy” Eastment, which contained the Class A drugs
‘You would not believe that someone so intelligent and top of the class growing up could be so stupid and have so little common sense.’
The concerned sister added that while she was always on alert for ‘con men’, a lot of older people often fall victim to financial scams.
She said her brother was scammed ‘about four years ago’ and lost £20,000 after a woman called Jennifer, the same age as herself, messaged to say she was in trouble following her arrest in Istanbul and needed money for a lawyer.
The pensioner’s sister said he was now left ‘in all sorts of financial difficulties’ and that she had to lend him ‘a couple of hundred here and there’ which she could not afford.
Jennifer said Eastment had recently spent time in Brazil and insisted she had no idea what he was doing in Mexico.
She added that two years ago her brother had journeyed to Brazil with a friend and she was unsure why he was there. She recalled suspecting it could have been to do with drugs and explained Eastment had gone but ‘hated it’.
Jennifer also spoke of her brother previously appearing in court accused of assaulting his now ex-partner.
She admitted he had a ‘fierce temper’ but insisted he was ‘not a bad person’ and simply ‘loves his bowls and his fishing’.
The neighbour questioned ‘what on earth is someone like that doing mixed up drugs’ and said ‘he’s just a simply pensioner, I thought…he’s hardly living the high life there’
The pensioner was arrested in Chile after a Mexican gang allegedly promised him £4000 to smuggle a suitcase of crystal meth
A judge has ruled Eastment can be held for up to 120 days while prosecutors gather evidence and consider formal charges, The Mirror reports.
If convicted, the OAP could face up to 15 years in prison, though legal experts have said a five-year sentence is more likely in the event Eastment co-operates through a plea deal.
It comes after authorities discovered the drugs hidden in a false bottom of Eastment’s suitcase, which officials said was packed to capacity.
The bag was flagged by an x-ray scanner and special detection system as the pensioner passed through customs.
Messages on Eastment’s phone have led investigators to believe he received instructions from contacts in Brazil and the US.
Chilean police say the 79-year-old is behind bars in Santiago 1 Penitentiary – a place far removed from the humble set of bungalows he previously inhabited.
Police previously said the drugs he was caught with would have been worth around £200,000 on the streets of the south American country.
The British traveller was asked to open his suitcase in front of officers when police discovered a secret compartment where 5kg of the drugs had been packed.
One neighbour recalled seeing Eastman just days before his arrest, saying he had mentioned going to Mexico but ‘missed his flight’ meaning he ‘had to get a later one’
Airport police chief Sergio Paredes said it was the first time the arrested man had entered Chile.
One neighbour recalled seeing Eastman just days before his arrest, saying he had mentioned going to Mexico but ‘missed his flight’ meaning he ‘had to get a later one’.
They questioned ‘what on earth is someone like that doing mixed up drugs’ and said ‘he’s just a simply pensioner, I thought…he’s hardly living the high life there’.
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 Eastman.
Officer Paredes 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 added police were still investigating whether the drugs were due to remain in Chile or be taken to Australia.
Earlier this week 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.
Bella May Culley, 18, was holidaying in Thailand but was arrested 4,000 miles away on drug offences in Georgia, allegedly carrying 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 46kg of ‘Kush’ – a synthetic strain of cannabis – in her suitcase
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 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 46kg 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.
