Australian meth smuggler thought drugs were 'muscle-building supplements'

As we covered earlier this week, there is a 25-year-old Australian/New Zealand dual citizen potentially facing execution in Guangzhou after being caught with 30 kilos of methamphetamine in his luggage last November. Today, the AP reports, the man has released his alibi: he thought they were perfectly legal muscle building supplements.

Peter Gardner told authorities that he came to China to buy the muscle supplements, and "did not knowingly smuggle drugs." That sounds reasonable enough if the drugs in question were, say, stored in some supplement bottles, or were in the forms of pills.

Instead, the drugs were methamphetamine crystals, sealed in 60 plastic bags with the zippers glued shut. In other words, it was definitely drugs.

Gardner says he "didn't check the parcel after [he] got the delivery," which seems a bit odd if the only reason he traveled to China in the first place was to buy some muscle building supplements that he apparently cared quite a bit about.

After being caught, Gardner offered to help police identify other potential suspects in the drug smuggling ring. If he is convicted, he will have two opportunities to protest his case before facing execution.