Italian article:
Google translated:
“1300 athletes investigated, 233 arrests in 33 nations. Involved cyclists, triathletes, bodybuilders, marathon runners and swimmers, amateurs and semi-professionals
Shopping at the pharmacy - let's put it this way - was not too difficult. We started by putting a "like" on the right Facebook profile or entering an "open" chat on Telegram or WhatsApp. Thematic profiles: bodybuilders, cyclists and marathon runners (on Sundays and semi-professionals), triathletes, swimmers, gym goers. We proceeded with some ad hoc questions. How do I improve uphill? How can I develop muscles, run or pedal stronger, recover faster after a workout? At that point - as if by a miracle - the chat window opened, in which someone looked out to offer you the solution: a link to the dark web or an explicit pharmacological help. That "ino" was not: anabolic (testosterone and nandrolone), stimulating hormones, growth hormone, Epo and the like, steroid cortisones, diuretics and even some enhanced "cane".
The difference with what emerged from the investigations of the past is the extent of the phenomenon. Operation Viribus announced on Tuesday by Europol, the agency of European police forces, is the most colossal action against the doping in history. 233 people belonging to 17 criminal organizations of 33 different nations have ended up in prison, which in recent times have supplied no less than 1,300 athletes or self-styled athletes with doping and drug products. Seized drugs (clandestine production) for a value of almost four million euros. An eight-month job, started and directed by Italy. "As health carabinieri - explains Colonel Andrea Zapparoli, who heads the anti-doping unit of the Nas - we constantly monitor the illegal online trade in doping substances. When we realized that the volume of Internet transactions was increasing, last October we asked the Europol-associated police to work jointly and thoroughly. This is because the doping market starts from the east and branches all over Europe: only by cutting all the branches can you get important results ».
The mechanism was very oiled. "In nine countries - explains Zappulli - there were" cutting "and packaging plants. We discovered that of Salerno, a clandestine pharmaceutical laboratory, a dozen people worked there, where the products in powder or liquid form arrived and tablets, vials and tablets were packaged. We have seized specific machinery and also craft solutions such as microwave ovens with which the active ingredients were dried. The perpetrators had also implanted a cannabis cultivation with a high content of the Thc metabolite with which they cut the products. We arrested 12 people involved in production and shipping. Those who ran the business were of no use and of nothing ».
Tablets and vials left in postal packages from Salerno throughout Italy. Fictitious sender, real recipient. «Buyers - explains Zappulli - are part of every social group, every athletic level and age. To close the circle, for some of them we asked the Ministry of Health for anti-doping tests in competition: we have 19 positive aspects at national level and 50 international ones. Buyers face criminal charges for drug trafficking (as is nandrolone) or international trafficking if the quantities were important and, in any case, due to receiving stolen goods since the "drugs" were of illicit origin ". Heavy sporting sanctions are also coming for members. "But the most serious thing - Zappulli concludes - are the health risks deriving from the use of products of uncertain origin and processed in places without the minimum hygienic guarantees. And it affects the subculture of those who wanted them at all costs. "