'Cheriegate' con man Foster is held after five days on the run

Published on Monday 15 January 2007 00:08

INTERNATIONAL slimming pill con man Peter Foster was behind bars last night after being on the run from authorities in the Pacific for five days.

The man who was at the centre of "Cheriegate" in Britain - the property scandal which embarrassed Prime Minister Tony Blair and his wife - is wanted by three countries and has been detained by police in Vanuatu over his illegal entry into the Pacific island nation.

Eye-witnesses identified Foster for police from photographs after he waded ashore a week ago, stripped to the waist and carrying his belongings in a plastic bag.

They said he headed for Port Vila, the island's capital. Sergeant Andrew Kalman, from the Vanuatu Police Force's Trans-National Crime squad, said: "He arrived in our country on Monday and we arrested him at 5:05am in the morning today [Sunday]."

As the net closed around him at the luxury Malapoa Estate early yesterday, Foster tried to escape by jumping from a window. But police officers had already surrounded the home, which belonged to a business associate of Foster, and last night he was being held in a prison cell. "He is a bit sad, very serious and not joking," said one police officer.

Foster had been smuggled out of Fiji, where he was facing fraud and immigration charges, with the help of several Australian friends aboard a former Australian navy minesweeper, Retriever 1, which is now being held in Port Vila harbour.

Sergeant Kalman said an Australian man, named Wayne Furness, was also arrested. Police raided Furness's house after intelligence from the community led them to Foster's former associate. Furness has been charged with harbouring an international fugitive and possessing obscene pornography.

Four other Australians who were on the Retriever 1 are facing customs and immigration charges.

One of them is an Australian deep freediving champion, Sacha Dench, who has said she was involved in a venture to recover sunken treasure in Vanuatu waters and denies any wrongdoing.

Foster is wanted in Micronesia - over an alleged 300,000 federal government land scam - Fiji and Australia.