Police have broken up a large international network involved in the distribution and sale of growth hormones, steroids and other medicines, seizing over 700,000 doses of various drugs during raids on nineteen premises.
The investigation began last July in Valencia when police became aware of a large group involved in importing and selling illegal drugs. A laboratory was discovered in Elche, Alicante, where growth hormone drugs imported in bulk from China were being processed for distribution via the internet.
It was then discovered that the operation in Alicante was just a small part of a much larger organisation.
Amongst those detained is the head of a cycling club in the Madrid region, arrested at the moment he received a large shipment of EPO.
The head of the Specialist Crimes Unit has warned of the health risk posed by the consumption of illegal drugs which have no quality control, are often stored in poor conditions and in some cases contain excessive amounts of the active ingredient which would pose a risk for certain people.
Some of the anabolic steroids were commonly used in animal surgery and could cause serious heart, liver or kidney problems.
Police have begun to detect a change of business by some drug traffickers as they move to the medicines market where profits are much higher and the risks are less. A Viagra pill sold at the door of a nightclub for €20 only costs the network €0.20 and the risk is minimal because under Spanish law such activity is regarded as a misdemeanor.
The drugs network operated in Alicante, Málaga and Madrid, with drugs imported from China, Turkey and India and orders being routed via the UK, Hungary and Germany so as not to raise suspicion.