Body building drugs swoop

SEVENTY EIGHT people face charges of supplying performance enhancing drugs used in sports and fitness.

Police searched homes in Alicante and Valencia and 17 other mainland provinces as well as the Canary Islands. 

They found thousands of doses of the banned substances together with a pistol, ammunition, computers and cash.

Many of the drugs originated from a Cantabria pharmacy and a Tenerife health centre, while others were supplied by international traffickers.  Anabolic steroids, hormones and EPO, camouflaged as normal medication, were sold to a dealer by the owner of a pharmacy on the outskirts of Santander.

They were subsequently couriered to clients – principally professional and amateur bodybuilders – throughout Spain.

Other doping products were allegedly obtained from a health centre employee in Tenerife who took them from his place of work. 

Drugs unavailable in Spain were imported from Eastern Europe and Asia through international crime networks, say police.

Fifty-five arrests have now been made with a further 23 people linked to the supply network.