The World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) and the European law enforcement body, Europol, have agreed to work more closely to tackle the crime gangs they say control much of the trade in doping products.
In a joint statement Europol and WADA said organised
crime gangs were producing, trafficking and selling doping products to a range
of athletes “from track athletes, professional cyclists, skiers and
weightlifters to amateur bodybuilders”.
Europol said the gangs involved in supplying doping products into professional and amateur sport often made profits that were being reinvested into producing black market prescription medicines and synthetic drugs, which are consumed by recreational drug users.
WADA and Europol have signed a new memorandum of understanding
so they can share more intelligence on those involved in the performance
enhancing drugs trade and work more closely on investigations.
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The closer partnership is a telling acknowledgement that doping must be tackled via the criminal justice system just as much as by dope testing within sports.
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The new agreement between WADA and Europol follows a
number of doping investigations that have yielded results by using the criminal
justice system – including police investigations and court prosecutions – to
catch and penalise dopers and those supplying them with doping products or
overseeing their doping.
In cycling, for example, a number of former WorldTour riders have in recent years been caught and banned from the sport – as well as some being criminally prosecuted – under Operation Aderlass, which is a police investigation.
The riders who were caught had passed all of the doping tests they were subjected to when racing, or in out of competition testing, and their biological passports flagged nothing suspicious in their blood profile. However, when the cyclists’ involvement was detected by the Austrian and German police they were arrested and soon made admissions.
Europol’s executive director Catherine De Bolle said of
the new agreement with WADA: “Europol is strengthening its cooperation with the
major player in the fight against doping in sports worldwide.
“The new agreement will focus on exchanging knowledge and
expertise, capacity building, and further collaboration between Europol and the
World Anti-Doping Agency.”
WADA president Witold Bańk said: “As demonstrated by
recent high-profile cases, such as those involving the International Biathlon
Union, Operation Aderlass, the International Weightlifting Federation and the
Europol-coordinated Operation VIRIBUS, the sharing of information between law
enforcement agencies and anti-doping organizations can be crucial in exposing
wrong-doing that would not have been detected through testing or other
analytical methods.”
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