But the dapper gent is now free to enjoy his twilight years in peace after prosecutors agreed to drop the case against him on Friday.

Mr Twartz, a retired oral surgeon, had been accused of importing 4.5 kilograms of cocaine masked in 27 bars of coloured soap.

The Eastwood nursing home resident was arrested on July 8 last year after landing at Sydney Airport on his way back from Delhi in India, where he had been holidaying.

He later said he had been the victim of a scam, in which people claiming to be from the World Banks in Switzerland asked him to travel to London and then India, sending him $600 for a passport and several thousand dollars for his flights.

The soap was allegedly given to him by a man in New Delhi who asked him to take it back to his family.

"I looked carefully what was in the soap," Mr Twartz told Fairfax Media last year.

"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."

Nevertheless, prosecutors continued with the charges, which carried a maximum penalty of life in prison.

But on Friday a DPP representative told the Downing Centre District Court that prosecutors had elected to drop the matter.

"The Crown has determined to discontinue proceedings," the representative said.

"The trial date of February 22 should be vacated."

Mr Twartz did not attend court, but Fairfax Media understands his lawyers made an application to have the matter discontinued last month on the grounds of the 92-year-old's age and health.

It is understood the legal team argued that it was not appropriate to prosecute someone of Mr Twartz's age as a matter of public policy, particularly given his reduced mental capacity.

Mr Twartz's arrest prompted warnings to travellers to pack their luggage carefully and be wary of inadvertently becoming drug couriers for overseas criminal syndicates.