A world apart: Bannister during his racing days. Mr Bannister is just one of at least 10 Australians to have been charged in China in the past year with serious drug offences that can attract the death penalty. The charges raise the prospect of an awkward diplomatic confrontation with Beijing similar to the one playing out with Jakarta over the lives of condemned Bali nine drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. It is understood that most, if not all, of the Chinese cases involve the trafficking of ice from Guangzhou, highlighting the booming ice trade to Australia from the southern Chinese city, which is favoured by multinational drug syndicates for its international transport links and ready availability of precursor chemicals. Prime Minister Tony Abbott this week launched the National Ice Taskforce, to be led by former Victoria Police chief commissioner Ken Lay, to combat the "scourge" of rising addiction rates of the "most dangerous drug" that he said was predisposing people to extreme violence and serious mental illness in Australia. Mr Bannister's fate turns on whether the three Chinese judges presiding over his case give credence to his explanation that he had fallen foul of a callous scam perpetrated by three men he identified as "Justin", "KC" and "John Law".



"I do believe that I have been set up ... in this drug smuggling scheme": Anthony Bannister. The trio had convinced him, he said, that he could obtain a lucrative divorce settlement, having split from his ex-wife, a Filipino woman he met while living in Japan. But in a process that became increasingly convoluted, he was told that a series of documents needed to be signed in person in Guangzhou, which resulted in him travelling to the city five times in the space of four months, usually only for a few days at a time. Each time he would be told that another signature – and therefore another trip to Guangzhou – was required, while the promised "settlement" ballooned from an initial $US60,000 ($78,000) to more than $US1 million. On his fateful last trip to Guangzhou in March last year, Mr Bannister was informed by "John Law" that his money had arrived, and to bring forward his flight back to Australia. Mr Bannister said "KC" helped reschedule his flights, but inserted a detour to Sydney at the last minute. In a taxi in Guangzhou the night before his flight, "KC" asked Mr Bannister to bring a suitcase with him as a favour. He said he never looked in the suitcase, which contained the drug-filled handbags.

"I had no knowledge of the drugs," he said. "I had no knowledge of the suitcase until March 10 ... until the night before I left." But prosecutors said Mr Bannister's account was "conflicting and illogical", and that he chose to smuggle drugs because he was unemployed and had no income. They recommended the death penalty, to be carried out promptly. A verdict has yet to be handed down. Mr Bannister's older brother James, who works as an engineer at a major oil and gas company, told Fairfax Media that Mr Bannister's version of events to the court was consistent with what he had been told, and that his younger brother was naive and trusting enough to fall for such a scam. Their father David was a Vietnam War veteran who was exposed to Agent Orange, and their mother developed leukaemia while pregnant with Anthony, contributing to Mr Bannister's small stature and learning difficulties. Mr Bannister dropped out of school after year 9 and took up an apprenticeship as a jockey in Mount Gambier. He would carve out a successful but short-lived career in Adelaide but the money and early success, James said, meant he'd "come off the rails".

"When he got a bit of money it went to his head, he blew it all," he said. "He burnt too many bridges in Adelaide and upset the wrong people." With his reputation shot in Adelaide, Mr Bannister went to Japan to do track work, where he stayed for a decade, before returning to Australia where he raced in the Gold Coast as recently as 2010. But he stopped getting rides and wound up working shifts at a discount department store in Adelaide. James said Anthony first told him about his trips to Guangzhou the weekend before Christmas in 2013. James had consistently warned Anthony that it sounded very suspicious, but the younger brother remained convinced until March 11. "He rang me from the airport, all it was I could hear Chinese talking, and he said 'I'm in trouble, the police are here, they think it's drugs'," James said. "That was it." James said he was upset at not having been able to speak directly to his brother since his arrest, and that as with most drug syndicates, the organisers appeared likely to remain untouched while the mules paid the price.

He said he had provided the Australian Federal Police with dozens of emails between Mr Bannister and the purported perpetrators of the scam, but neither Chinese nor Australian police had contacted him for an interview. "I've spoken to you longer than the police," he told Fairfax Media. Of the other Australians arrested last year, Bengali Sherrif has been handed a suspended death sentence, which is usually commuted to a life sentence after a period of good behaviour. The other nine, including Mr Bannister, are awaiting either a trial or a verdict.

The flurry of arrests prompted the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to update its travel advisory in September, warning travellers to China of its severe penalties for drug offences, including the death penalty. Follow FairfaxForeign on Twitter