A court in northeastern China has ordered the retrial of Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, a Canadian national who was sentenced last month to 15 years on a drug smuggling charge, according to a statement by the High People's Court of Liaoning Province on Saturday.

After hearing the case, the high court accepted the opinions of the procuratorial organ and ordered the case to be returned to the Dalian Intermediate People's Court for a new trial, said the statement.

Schellenberg was found guilty by the Dalian Intermediate People's Court in November. The court also ordered the seizure of 150,000 yuan (around 21,800 U.S. dollars) worth of the defendant's assets except for the prison term. 

The amount of drugs that he allegedly smuggled “will surprise you when it goes public,” Global Times reported, citing runsky.com, a website run by the Dalian Radio and Television Station.

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Canadian citizen to go on trial over drug-smuggling charges in China