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.
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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