An Australian crime syndicate is duping the elderly and vulnerable into trafficking millions of dollars worth of the drug ice into Australia, an ABC investigation into the death of a Gold Coast grandfather in China has found.

Disability pensioner John Warwick, 64, was arrested at Guangzhou airport in July 2014, when nearly 1.9 kilograms of the drug methamphetamine, also known as ice, was discovered in his luggage.

Mr Warwick's family had no idea he had become caught up in the international drug trade and have kept his arrest a secret from even their closest friends until now.

"My dad had been arrested on suspicion of concealing 1899 grams of ice contained in a DVD player," his daughter Amanda Davis said.

"I said, 'No way, not my father. No way would he risk his life only to never see his kids and grandkids again. Not my dad.'

"It's like it was a horror movie that wouldn't stop."

Mr Warwick was the most unlikely of drug mules.

The 64-year-old had been on a disability pension for a decade since his deteriorating health forced him to leave his job as a finance manager at a car dealership.

Do you know more about this story? Email sean.r.dunlop@abc.net.au

He was barely mobile, going blind in one eye, had a bad heart, Type-2 diabetes and gout. He relied on his daughter and ex-wife Laurel Warwick for support.

"His leg was going black," she said.

"He used a wheely walker and sometimes a wheelchair.

"He couldn't walk very far without holding on to the wall or items of furniture."

All but confined to his Gold Coast home, Mr Warwick became hooked on replying to spam emails offering big money and adventure.

"He was set up with an internet scam," Ms Davis said.

"He was told the man he was dealing with was dying of cancer, and that he could have a business setting up importing and exporting.

Emails between Lee and John 14 May 2014 - LEE WANG

SUBJECT Re:LUST

"Dear brother, ... my friend from Africa want to meet you face to face ... He promised to buy a ticket to China for you and I don't want us to miss this business. I seriously need money and I know you do." 15 May 2014 - JOHN WARWICK

SUBJECT Re:LUST

"I would not be able to fly that far due to ill health, he could have a Skype video call with me ... I am willing to help him and you know how much money I put into trying to get our deal done." 15 May 2014 - LEE WANG

SUBJECT Re:LUST

"You should ignore what your doctor told you that you cannot fly far.."

"They were also trying to set up an arranged marriage with an African lady called Miss Elizabeth, which we knew nothing about.

"Apparently, if he was to marry her and bring her back to Australia to her boyfriend back in Sydney, he would be paid 10 per cent of her 32 million pounds, so he would be getting around $6 million.

"You just didn't expect dad to be so gullible but obviously that was the way they lured him in, lured him in for bait."

Emails from May last year show how Mr Warwick was lured to China by a person using the alias "Lee Wang".

Mr Warwick made two trips to China where he was befriended by a man who called himself Dioura Mensah and who claimed to be from Ghana.

On the first journey he was given a DVD player and package of clothes to bring back to Australia.

His family says he has since told them he checked the items for drugs.

Legal correspondence obtained by the ABC shows Mr Warwick alleged Dioura Mensah supplied him with another DVD player on his second trip.

"Dioura asked me to take a second DVD player back with me," he wrote.

"He bought a large black bag so I could put all my gear in it. The player was sealed in plastic as before, so I packed my clothes around it.

"I would not have gone to the airport and put my bags through customs if I knew I had drugs in them."

Consulate did not visit after health warning

Lawyer Dan Mori, who has helped the family through his organisation Australians Detained Abroad, said the scammers target people who are lonely or desperate.

"It was sort of the long con: they brought him over, they met him, and then at the very end said, 'Do you mind bringing this DVD player back?'" Mr Mori said.

"And he unsuspectingly did that and got caught."

Mr Warwick was held in a military police hospital in Guangzhou, where Australian consular officials visited him twice and his health deteriorated.

"Dad was in the hospital for two months," Ms Davis said.

"He was given iodine, which he is totally allergic to.

"He went the next six days without eating and that was on the 19th of August.

"I notified DFAT (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade) to let them know that he wasn't well.

"They informed me that they would get someone to go and see him, and I don't know if anyone ever did see him."

The ABC understands no-one from the Australian consulate visited Mr Warwick again even though his lawyer and family had raised serious concerns about his health.

There are however limitations on the number of times consulate officials are permitted to visit their nationals in custody in China.

A spokesperson from DFAT said "it was of concern to the Consulate that Mr Warwick had serious health concerns".

"Consular staff visited him on two occasions. During the last visit he did not raise any particular health issues and he told consular officials he was responding well to treatment," the spokesperson said.

"The lawyer advised consular officials that the hospital prison had undertaken to supplement his diet given his earlier stated concerns with eating the hospital food.

"Unfortunately he passed away in the prison hospital on 2 September 2014."

According to a report from Chinese authorities, Mr Warwick died of sudden cardiac and respiratory arrest at Wujing Hospital, a Chinese police hospital, in Guangzhou.

His family has demanded to know why consular authorities did not check on his health in the 19 days after they warned DFAT about it.

"Why wasn't there somebody there to help him?" Ms Davis said.

"Why didn't somebody do something?"

Eleven Australians imprisoned on smuggling suspicions

Another 11 Australians are currently imprisoned in China on suspicion of smuggling drugs, a crime which carries the death penalty in that country.

Several of them are intellectually disabled or mentally ill and claim to have been duped by online scams.

Australian police sources refused to comment on individual cases in China but have told the ABC that scams like these are real.

Amanda Davis said people like her father were not just numbers and that the AFP needed to investigate. ( ABC News )

The AFP has identified scores of people like Mr Warwick who have been targeted by a single Australian syndicate, based in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide, with its roots in west Africa.

The syndicate is tied to a global network trafficking the drug ice from Guangzhou, the ice capital of the world, in the luggage of gullible travellers.

The AFP is investigating the syndicate but has not looked into Mr Warwick's case, even though his family has handed them a file which contains valuable clues, including the phone number for an Australian pointman to the syndicate.

The family are breaking their silence to demand more action.

"These people need to be accountable for what they've done," Ms Davis said.

"These are lives, these are not numbers. These are fathers, these are brothers, these are uncles. They're grandfathers.

"They're not just a number... and I might save another number.

"My dad was not a drug smuggler, he was set up — and someone needs to be accountable for it.

"There is information there that the AFP as well as Chinese authorities need to be investigating.

"They've got names, they've got numbers.

"Find them! Do something with it, don't just sweep it under the rug."

In a statement, the AFP told 7.30 it has passed information from Mr Warwick's family to Chinese authorities.