Bikini model 'terrified' of drugs gang that used her as honeytrap to con science professor into smuggling drugs

By Polly Dunbar for MailOnline

Published: | Updated:


Glamour model Denise Milani denies she had anything to do with the plot

Glamour model Denise Milani denies she had anything to do with the plot

The bikini model at the centre of  a drug-smuggling saga involving a British professor has spoken of her terror at being unwittingly dragged into the world of criminal gangs.

Denise Milani learnt last week she had been the ‘honeytrap’ used to lure physicist Paul Frampton into carrying a suitcase of cocaine into Argentina.

She believes the incident could be linked to a series of bizarre emails she received from an obsessive fan who had apparently been exchanging amorous messages with somebody claiming to be her.

Prof Frampton, 68, is being held  in a Buenos Aires jail after being caught with a case containing more than 4lb of cocaine. The scientist – who faces 16 years in prison – claims he was tricked into believing he was carrying it for Miss Milani.

Now The Mail on Sunday has traced the 36-year-old glamour model to her home town of Frydek-Mistek in the Czech Republic.

‘I’m terrified that these people, whoever they are, have used my identity to trick somebody,’ she said. ‘Like the professor, I am a victim. Since I found out I have felt very vulnerable and frightened, for myself and for my family.

'I have no idea why they would have picked me and I desperately wish they had not because I do not want people to believe I am involved with drugs.

‘I keep thinking about my email account being hacked and now  I think that was by the same people. Somebody was sending this man emails, which he thought were  from me. My Facebook page, where I have 200,000 fans, was also hacked a few months ago. I am very worried that I have been targeted.’

In a telephone interview last week from the notorious Villa Devoto prison, Prof Frampton, who is professor of physics and astronomy at the University of North Carolina, said he had been communicating online with someone purporting to be Miss Milani for 11 weeks before his arrest.

The model was used as a honeytrap to lure British scientist Paul Frampton to South America
The model was used as a honeytrap to lure British scientist Paul Frampton to South America

The model was used as a honeytrap to lure British scientist Paul Frampton to South America

He said he had met the person he thought was the model, who was crowned Miss Bikini World 2007, on dating website mate1.com.

Paul Frampton is being held in Buenos Aires jail after being caught with a case of containing more than 4lb of cocaine

Paul Frampton is being held in Buenos Aires jail after being caught with a case of containing more than 4lb of cocaine

In January he flew to the Bolivian capital La Paz to meet her, on a ticket he thought had been paid for by her manager, a man he spoke  to by phone.

He says he was met instead by a Bolivian man, who gave him a suitcase to take to Buenos Aires for Miss Milani, who had apparently flown there for a modelling trip. When she did not turn up, he tried to board a plane home, but was arrested after the cocaine was found in a false lining of the case.

Argentinian authorities insist there is no evidence the brunette was aware her identity was being used. The model, who lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their 12-year-old son, is in the Czech Republic visiting her parents. 

She insists she has known of her involvement in the saga only since last week. ‘I was shopping in Tesco in Frydek-Mistek and my cousin texted me from Prague to say they were talking about me on the radio, and that there were drugs involved,’ she said.

‘Then I was in all the magazines here. I have been in shock, shaking and not sleeping. I had never heard of Professor Frampton before last week. I have a lot of sympathy for him, though I have to wonder how he could have been so naive. I have also never heard of mate1.com.’

Now she is concerned that whoever used her identity will not be caught and says Argentinian police have not contacted her.

‘I don’t know how to explain to my son what has happened and I’m scared he will read something about it,’ she said.  ‘I’m worried that though I have done nothing, I might be suspected of being involved. I’m afraid if I travel, something might happen to me.’




 

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