A 91-year-old Australian has been charged with importing cocaine inside packets of soap in a crime that - if proven - would make him the world's oldest drug mule.
Police say retired Sydney surgeon Victor Twartz was "legitimately scammed" by an organised crime syndicate which had befriended him and gained his trust before luring him overseas.
Australian Federal Police organised crime commander David Stewart wouldn't go into detail about the case, but said Twartz had been in contact with them for months. Police were tipped off by Twartz's family but were unable to stop him leaving Australia. "There is certainly some evidence to suggest that this man was legitimately scammed by this group and exploited. There were warnings issued to him ... At the end of the day [people] make their own choices."
Twartz was returning to Australia from New Delhi on July 8 when he was allegedly caught carrying 27 bars of soap, filled with about 4.5kg of cocaine. He's been charged with importing a commercial quantity of the drug, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Twartz appeared at Downing Centre Local Court yesterday. He did not enter a plea and his bail was continued to October.
Asked outside court whether he was taken advantage of, Twartz said: "Always, always". He told the ABC he was duped by people he met in Delhi who he'd befriended online. He says he was handed a bag just before he boarded his flight and told it contained gifts for a person in Australia. Stewart said in the past two years alone, 40 Australians have been arrested over similar scams. But he warned ignorance was not a defence.
