The retired oral surgeon was arrested on July 8 after landing in Sydney airport on his way back from Delhi in India, where he had been holidaying.

Victory for Victor: prosecutors have dropped their case against 92-year-old accused drug importer Victor Twartz. Credit:James Alcock

"I looked carefully what was in the soap," Mr Twartz said outside his Eastwood nursing home after the case was adjourned . "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."

The whole affair began when people claiming to be from the World Bank in Switzerland sent him an email, Mr Twartz said. First, they wanted him to come to London, then India. Mr Twartz said he would have been wary of anything asking him to pay up front. But these people sent him $600 for a passport and paid several thousand for his flights. He spent five days in Delhi, where he met up in a hotel room with a "nothing special" man who arranged the deal.

Mr Twartz was to convey the gift soap back to the man's family members and sign related documents. He now claims he cannot be held criminally responsible for the drugs given he did not know they were cocaine. The maximum penalty for drug importation is life imprisonment.