Germany said Monday it had shut down five laboratories manufacturing illegal doping substances as part of raids against international trafficking networks.
A spokesman for the federal police force told AFP that the authorities conducted searches of homes and businesses in five states last week and seized 50 litres (13 gallons) of substances used in the production of illicit drugs as well as tens of thousands of pills including anabolic steroids.
The operation was part of an international probe codenamed "Raw Deal" and run by US authorities. The federal police said in a statement that authorities in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Sweden, Poland, Spain, Israel and Australia had also found underground laboratories for steroids and other banned substances as well as pirated medications.
"The suspects in Germany are accused of selling illegal substances and medication across the country, some of them using traditional business models," the statement said. "In the course of international investigations, links to trade and production sites in China could be found where hormonal building blocks used in steroids are made."
It said the booming, highly profitable trade in illegal doping substances - driven by demand in the amateur bodybuilding scene - had grown along with brisk sales in pirated medications that were often sold by the same criminal networks.
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