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A former alpine climber, Antarctic worker, Erebus recovery team member and victim of a drug smuggling scam, is missing near Greymouth. 

Police are concerned for the safety of 75-year-old Roy Arbon, who failed to return from a walk up Mt Davy to Mt Sewell on Wednesday. 

“Roy may be wearing a blue puffer jacket, shorts, hiking boots but this is not confirmed.” 

West Coast beekeeper Roy Arbon lost a fortune in a series of elaborate scams. Photo / Loading Docs 

Anyone who has seen Arbon or has any information on his whereabouts is urged to call Police on 105, quoting job number P063265345. 

The Otira-based pensioner and beekeeper is well known on the West Coast, but also for his remarkable life story. 

Police are appealing for sightings of 75-year-old Roy after he failed to return from a walk from Mt Davy to Mt Sewell, north-east of Greymouth, on Wednesday. Image / Supplied 

In 2021, Arbon was featured in the documentary The Scam, which detailed how he was duped by a sophisticated network of Nigerian scammers and ended up unwittingly transporting 2.5kg of cocaine into Australia. 

He spent 18 months in an Australian prison before a jury found him not guilty of knowingly trafficking drugs. 

A former alpine climber, Arbon once worked on oil rigs in the North Sea, served in Antarctica, and was part of the grim recovery efforts after the Mt Erebus disaster. 

Roy Arbon - who lost nearly half a million dollars to Nigerian scammers - says he's a trusting person. Photo / Loading Docs 

He also responded in the aftermath of the Cave Creek disaster, winning commendations for his work recovering the dead after the West Coast DoC platform collapsed into a ravine. 

Arbon was locked up briefly in a Kenyan jail for accidentally breaking a train window. 

He also survived a serious fall from scaffolding that broke his back, preventing him from joining a Himalayan expedition where he was replaced by mountaineer Rob Hall. 

Roy Arbon is a former alpine climber who made his money drilling for oil in the North Sea. Photo / Loading Docs 

Following his feature in the documentary, Arbon told the Herald his drug smuggling experience and subsequent trial were “pretty harrowing.” 

“In total, I probably lost close to half a million. But it’s only money, I’m still alive. Money is meant to be spent.” 

He said that despite what he’d been through, he still tried to see the best in people. 

“The Lord trusted Judas. If you can’t trust people, you might as well die.”