agents National Police eliminated in the provinces AlicanteBadajoz, Cádiz, Granada, Málaga, Tarragona and Toledo organization probably dedicated tdrug trafficking and changing the composition of nutritional productssome were marketed under created brands temporary. More than 8 tons of nutritional products and nearly 400 kilograms of drugs were seized during the operations. In addition, an illegal pharmaceutical laboratory was liquidated and a legitimate laboratory was closed due to serious health problems. A total of 24 people were arrested. The use of the operation has had the cooperation of health and nutrition authorities, both state and autonomous communities in which it has acted.
The detainees belonged to an organization that mainly consisted of two intertwined criminal groups. They focused their activities primarily on the smuggling of products from abroad, especially anabolics. Second, they are busy defrauding buyers of nutritional products. To do this, after contacting wholesale suppliers, they created their own protein brand and, in agreement with the supplier, changed their ingredients, including trace amounts of the drug, risking the health of those who would consume it. Moreover, produced and prepared “natural” products containing medicinal substances With a product that the Spanish Medicines and Healthcare Products Authority pulled from the market in 2013 due to the serious risk to health posed by ingestion.
The investigations began when the agents received a letter from the Bulgarian Attaché in Spain to the Cádiz region that it was determined that a large quantity of anabolic drugs had been shipped through the parcel company. It was then that the practice of judgment began to confirm these facts.
There were more than a dozen outlets
After the initial analysis of the data provided, it was observed that they were related to other information already in the possession of the National Police that associated some buyers of the products with a franchise. additional storesit spread not only in Cádiz, but also in other parts of Málaga and Granada in a short time. After performing a lot of surveillance and follow-up, they have more than a dozen outlets that make it possible to verify that they are used as a platform for the distribution of drugs, anabolics and hormones.
As the investigation progressed – and although at first it focused solely on the franchise-linked group dedicated to the purchase, storage and sale of anabolic products – it was possible to observe how they were actually selling a naturally labeled product. Drug substance withdrawn by the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Healthcare Products.
Learning that this product was sold, the police tried to determine the origin of the product. In this way, a second organized group, headquartered in Toledo, with connections in Badajoz, was found. This group has produced and marketed through two companies covering the entire production process, from the synthesis of the active substance to its packaging, labeling and sale in sports supplement stores.
These same companies it also produced other nutritional products such as protein and creatine., inter alia, on demand and with compositional properties requested by different customers, often with grades well below that indicated on the labels. Among the customers of these manufacturing companies were their own brands, created by the chain of stores of the franchise under investigation.
Due to disputes in the prices and payments of these products sports supplement Between the two entities, the production of franchised products was moved to the province of Alicante, more specifically to a company where they plan to continue the same operation.
As part of the investigation, it was determined that Reus had a point of sale in the town of Tarragona, where they also sold anabolic products.
During the police operation, 24 people were arrested, including 10 in Málaga province, 7 in Cádiz, 4 in Toledo and 1 in Malaga. Alicante, Badajoz and Tarragona. In addition, 37 searches or inspections were carried out in the same provinces. In total, the agents seized more than 2,500,000 doses of illegal medicinal products (approximately 400 kg), tons of sports supplement products immobilized due to consumer fraud, 390,000 euros in cash, 690,000 euros blocked in bank accounts, 24,000 euros in different cryptocurrencies. , four confiscated vehicles, 53 stationary vehicles and 25 stationary properties. A total legacy of around 7,500,000 euros of those investigated has surfaced.
The detainees are tried for crimes against public health, membership of a criminal organization, crimes against consumers and falsification of documents.