World’s oldest drug smuggler ‘duped by Indian scammers’
The arrest of a 91-year-old man allegedly carrying 4.5 kilograms of cocaine at Sydney Airport has prompted the Australian Federal Police to issue a warning about elderly citizens being duped into becoming drug mules.
Police say Sydney man Victor Twartz was ‘legitimately scammed’ by an organised crime syndicate who befriended him via email and gained his trust before luring him overseas.
Mr Twartz, a retired oral surgeon, was arrested at the Airport after flying from India’s Delhi to Sydney.
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AFP is warning all Australians to be wary of offers that sound too good to be true but could end up turning them into inadvertent drug mules.
Mr Twartz was returning to Australia from New Delhi on July 8 when he was caught allegedly carrying 27 bars of soap, filled with about 4.5kg of cocaine.
He appeared briefly at Downing Centre Local Court on Tuesday, dressed in a three-piece tweed suit.
Asked outside the court if he was taken advantage of, Twartz said: ‘Always, always.’
Mr Twartz told ABC’s 7.30 he met people in Delhi who 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 a person in Australia.
In the bag, cocaine was hidden in 27 packages of soap.
“I looked carefully what was in the soap,” Mr Twartz is quoted as saying by Fairfax.
“I scraped it and it was certainly soap but there were these streaks of white stuff in between.
“I thought it was additional perfume or that was the style of Indian soap.”
Swartz, who said he was against drugs, added that he wanted “vulnerable older persons” to be aware that “drugs can be hidden in false walls of packages, in ornaments, in stiff shirt collars, even in soap or ‘healing ointment’ toothpaste.”
“I’m 1000 per cent against any drug. I don’t even drink alcohol,” he added.
Twartz was charged with importing a commercial quantity of cocaine and has had his bail continued.
He will reappear in court on October 6. He did not enter a plea and his bail was continued.
Twartz’s arrest is the latest in a string of scams that have seen vulnerable people become unwitting drug mules.
AFP urged Australians to be wary of scams which can lead to people being duped by drug syndicates.
“Claiming ignorance of drugs hidden inside your luggage does not automatically mean you will not face criminal charges,” AFP Acting Assistant Commissioner Wayne Buchhorn said.
“People can expect they will be charged if they knowingly bring drugs into Australia or are reckless or wilfully blind to the fact that there could be narcotics concealed inside their luggage or items they are carrying.”