After the Eric Favre case, a steroid drug hedd in England. Among the traffickers, a 45-year-old Nathan Selcon, the former bodybuilder ran a supplement store. He led a millionaire lifestyle, had a luxurious house in Milton Keynes and owned prestige vehicles.
He was imprisoned for his role in one of the largest steroid trafficking gang in the world, he allegedly provided “high-level professional ath
letes”. Selcon admitted to importing steroids after working for Jacob Sporon-Fiedler. Mr. Sporon-Fiedler, 38, ran an Indian pharmaceutical company that supplied Selcon.
A National Crime Agency investigation revealed that about 42 tonnes of illicit anabolic steroids were imported into the UK.
These products are neither regulated nor controlled, which means that they are potentially risky to the health of those who used them.
Who are they?
A Danish national, Sporon-Fiedler lived in an upscale area of Mumbai. Its profits were channelled through bank accounts in Hong Kong, Singapore and Seychelles.Amon
g the British dealers were former bodybuilding champion Selcon and Alexander Macgregor, 50, of Maidenhead, who was CE corporate logistics manager in a unit adjacent to Selcon.La National Crime Agency (N
CA) store put a stop to importing into the European market after a five-year investigation, which had begun when 600 kg of steroids Anabolics were seized at Heathrow in 2014.Investigators bel
ieve the gang already existed since 2003 and linked it to the importation of about 16 tonnes of steroids into the UK, with an estimated value of around 12 million pounds. S
elcon, Macgregor and Mohammed Afzal, 34, of Slough, had set up an air-conditioned laboratory in a hospital, located in an industrial area near Heathrow Airport, to manufacture their own products.
Decent NCA
When the NCA raided the laboratory behind the Sheraton – where Sporon-Fiedler was descending during his stay in the UK – in March 2015, officers discovered that the Class C drug was packaged and labelled for a value of 43 million euros.
The NCA has evidence for at least 65 million pounds of drugs, but the true scale of its business could be much larger, with profits reaching hundreds of millions of poun
ds. Sporon-Fiedler used computers and encrypted phones, but ran his alpha pharma business as if it were a legitimate business. This company has become one of the world’s best-known premium steroid brands.
Investigators were able to trace shipments and track phone traffic, while a notebook kept by Dhillon details cash inflows, with more than $600,000 in sales presented on a single page.
The sentences
He was released on bail with a security payment of 600,000 euros – considered one of the largest amounts ever recorded in the UK – which was increased to 700,000 euros after seeking citizenship in Ukraine and Guatemala before being pr with 10,000 euros in his po
cket. Selcon, Afzal and Macgregor were convicted of conspiracy to make steroids following a two-month trial. Sporon-Fied
ler was jailed for five years and four months, while Selcon was sentenced to six years in prison. Dhillon wa
s sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and Afzal to two years’ imprisonmen
t. Macgregor absent due to illness is to be sentenced at a later date.
The origin of the products
NCA officers stated that they had not discovered the origin of anabolic steroids, but that they had been sold on the black market for use by bodybuilders, sportsmen, gym users and even possibly top athletes.
The UK’s director of anti-doping operations, Pat Myhill, said the elimination of the gang was a major victory, but said it was difficult to identify athletes using the drugs.
He said, “In this case, you really don’t know where the substances went. There is a huge bodybuilding market, lower-level athletes using these substances and, let’s say, the perpetrators of the London Bridge and Westminster Bridge terrorist attacks have both been assessed as steroid users Anabolic. I think when you look at the physiological and psychological effects of steroids, you understand a little better why a terrorist might use steroids. A terrorist using anabolic steroids has an advantage. “
Steroids and English law
In the UK, it is not illegal to possess anabolic steroids for personal use or to import them into your home, but it is illegal to supply and import the
m.” If Sporon-Fiedler thought he could trade illicit Class C anabolic steroids and evade law enforcement, he was wrong,” said David Cunningham, the NCA’s investigating officer.
Perhaps he mistakenly thought that because of Class C, law enforcement might not be interested, but that is the mistake he made.