SYDNEY—Prosecutors dropped a charge against a 92-year-old retired surgeon on Friday that alleged he had smuggled 1 million Australian dollars ($700,000) worth of cocaine hidden in bars of soap into Sydney airport.
Victor Twartz was due to appear in the New South Wales District Court in Sydney on a charge of importing a commercial quantity of cocaine, which carries a potential life sentence.
But the Sydney resident did not appear and prosecutors told the judge that the charge had been dropped. No explanation was given.
Bars of soap filled with cocaine seized from a a then-91-year-old retired surgeon as he returned home from India in 2015. (Australian Federal Police via AP)Twartz had been scheduled to stand trial later this month.
Twartz had said he would fight the charge because criminals had tricked him into carrying 27 soap bars packed with 4.5 kilograms (10 pounds) of cocaine when he returned to Australia from New Delhi on July 8, 2014.
FIRST ON 7: World’s oldest drug smuggler?
EXCLUSIVE: 91 year old Victor Twartz from Epping claims he was conned into importing 4.5 kilos of cocaine.Jessica Dietrich reports he was contacted online by someone claiming to be from the World Bank. STORY: http://yhoo.it/1HDo6Td#cocaine #7News
Posted by 7 News Sydney on Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Police had used the case to warn travelers about being tricked into becoming drug mules, and said it appeared Twartz was used by a group of people he had befriended online before his trip.
Police were tipped off by Twartz’s suspicious family about the email exchanges but did not stop him from leaving Australia.
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Twartz had told Australian Broadcasting Corp. that he met people in New Delhi whom he had befriended online. As he was about to board his plane to return to Sydney, he was handed a bag that he was told contained gifts for someone in Australia, he said.
If convicted, he could have been the world’s oldest drug smuggler, according to 7 News Sydney.
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