Was a Distinguished Physics Professor Framed in Argentina Drug Bust?

[diligence]

Wow:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/03/20/1945707/unc-chapel-hill-physics-professor.html

 

[phoenix:\\]

Am I the only one who had a good laugh when reading the article?

But come on, if I were caught smuggling drugs I'd play dumb as well.

Wha? Drugs?! OUTRAGEOUS!? I am a distinguished physics professor, why would I need drugs? The university obviously set me up because they are jealous!

“I am one of the most published physicists, and really he hasn’t done much that is of interest,” Frampton said,

I found that even funnier after reading the article.

 

[Gokul43201]

No kidding! That article reads like a bad soap opera (forgive the redundancy).

 

[zoobyshoe]

Wha? Drugs?! OUTRAGEOUS!? I am a distinguished physics professor, why would I need drugs? The university obviously set me up because they are jealous!

The article does not say he is accusing the university of setting him up. He is accusing a particular person, with whom he has a rivalry, of having unfairly stopped his pay while he is incarcerated trying to clear the charges.

Does a physics professor decide he'll try picking up some drugs on an overseas trip for the hell of it? One of his students thinks the notion he suddenly turned to drug smuggling is a joke:

Frampton’s disappearance had been a topic of speculation around the department, said Eby, who thinks there is little question that Frampton is innocent.

“He is human, but this is so far out of his character that I think I actually laughed when I heard about it,” he said.

Actual drug smugglers, on the other hand, will try anything to get drugs across borders. His suitcase was probably switched for a loaded one at his hotel, and would have gone missing before it got to him at the airport when he arrived in the US.

 

[phoenix:\\]

The article does not say he is accusing the university of setting him up. He is accusing a particular person, with whom he has a rivalry, of having unfairly stopped his pay while he is incarcerated trying to clear the charges.

Yes, I was in error. But I was thinking of something when I was reading it which is why I stated that as such.

Actual drug smugglers, on the other hand, will try anything to get drugs across borders. His suitcase was probably switched for a loaded one at his hotel, and would have gone missing before it got to him at the airport when he arrived in the US.

While true, that is one of many possibilities. Another possibility is, he was smuggling drugs. The, "I would've never thought he was capable of..." comes to mind and is often said because people are people with their own motives.

 

[diligence]

It does read like a soap opera, and that seems to be the professor's fault since he decided to make comments about his university and the provost to a news reporter. There are plenty other articles online that are less dramatic, notwithstanding how bizarre this entire story is:

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/03/20/decorated-north-carolina-physics-professor-in-argentine-jail-on-drug-charges/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2119039/Professor-Paul-Frampton-British-scientist-68-arrested-trying-smuggle-cocaine.html

Here's a blog entry on the situation written by an apparent colleague:

http://motls.blogspot.com/2012/03/trf-guest-blogger-paul-frampton.html#more

 

[diligence]

What do you think are the chances the drugs were in fact his? I honestly think they're basically slim-to-none, though it seems he's certainly guilty of lacking common sense no matter how the outcome plays out. Other articles report he claims to have traveled to South America to meet a model he initially met online.

 

[dipole]

It sounds like he was lured there by an internet scam artist, who may have rigged his suitcase while he was not watching it.

Shame on phoenix:\\ for presuming this man's guilt. Maybe he made a stupid judgment call flying to Argentina in order to meet some internet model, but it sounds like he's the victim of a drug scam and a jealous provost who should be removed from his position.

 

[chiro]

Wow:
http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/03/20/1945707/unc-chapel-hill-physics-professor.html

I'm surprised: I would have thought that the physicists and mathematicians use LSD, not cocaine.