The Victorian underworld crime figure Tony Mokbel is now a free man, after prosecutors abandoned a decades-old drug trafficking case against him. The Director of Public Prosecutions confirmed on Friday morning that they were discontinuing a retrial of allegations that Mokbel tried to source a commercial quantity of MDMA from overseas in June 2005, known as the Orbital case. This decision means Mokbel is no longer on bail and can move around freely, a stark contrast to the strict conditions he lived under since April 2025. Outside court, Mokbel expressed his gratitude to his legal team and supporters, stating, 'It feels really nice, and life goes on.' He also shared his excitement about traveling overseas, a dream he had while in jail. The retrial would have required digging up evidence from two decades ago and potentially tracking down witnesses, a challenging task. The DPP outlined their reasons for not pursuing the case, citing likely ongoing delays, the age of the alleged offending, the absence of actual importation, and the likely sentence given Mokbel's age, health, and previous imprisonment. The Orbital case centered on allegations that Mokbel tried to source MDMA, but the people he was in contact with were undercover officers from the Australian Federal Police. Prosecutors claimed Mokbel ordered and sought to import 100 kilograms of MDMA for 800,000 euros, with a threshold of just half a kilogram considered a 'commercial quantity'. The case was tainted due to the involvement of Mokbel's former lawyer, Nicola Gobbo, who secretly passed information to Victoria Police. The Court of Appeal entered an acquittal on those charges, and the retrial on the Orbital drug case has now been discontinued.
