The daughter of a Gold Coast man who died in a Chinese military hospital says he was scammed into travelling to China on the pretence of a business deal.
Instead John Warwick was given a DVD player to take back to Australia, containing almost two kilograms of the drug ice.
Amanda Davis says it wasn't until a couple of days after her father failed to turn up at the airport did she learn he had been arrested in China on suspicion of involvement in the international drug trade.
"I said no, not my father. There is no way he would do it," she told ABC television.
"No way would he risk his life, never to see his kids or grandkids again. It's like it was a horror movie and it wouldn't stop."
Mr Warwick, 64 and in poor health, died of a heart attack in China in August last year.
Ms Davis said he was set up by internet scammers.
He made two trips to China in June and July last year, both funded by his new friends. Both times he was asked to bring back a DVD player. He was caught the second time.
"He was told the man that he was dealing with was dying of cancer and he had a business he could open up importing, exporting. They tried to do an arranged marriage with my father, telling him he would be entitled to 10 per cent of $32 million," Ms Davis said.
It's believed Mr Warwick was the victim of a drug syndicate which operates in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide with links in West Africa, which traffics ice from Guangzhou in China.
Lawyer Michael Mori said they targeted people who were gullible, lonely and a little desperate.
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