34 arrested in Canary Islands doping ring
The Spanish Guardia Civil has arrested 34 people involved in a clenbuterol trafficking ring based in Gran Canaria and Tenerife. 13 pharmacists, eight technicians, eight veterinarians, one farmer, one pharmacy
sales manager, one bodybuilder and one cyclist were taken into custody and charged with forgery and crimes against public health. The drug was sold illegally using forged veterinary prescriptions.
Operation Viar began when an individual, whose identity has not been revealed, was found to have been injecting a race-horse with clenbuterol in Valleseco. The investigation led back to a veterinary clinic
and expanded from there. The drug was dealt illegally to athletes as well as to farmers to promote animal growth, a usage of the drug which has been illegal in Europe since 1998.
The on-going investigation could play a part in the Alberto Contador case. The Spanish cyclist was caught with clenbuterol in his blood at the Tour de France, which he won, and has been provisionally suspended
by the UCI while the matter is investigated by the Spanish cycling federation.
The main point behind Contador’s defense is that he had eaten contaminated meat the night before, which had been brought to him in France by a friend from Spain. Most doping experts have rejected that
excuse based on the fact that the substance has been banned in European meat for over ten years and extensive testing throughout 2008 and 2009 returned no positive results for the substance.
The charges against at least one meat farmer for the use of clenbuterol in cattle shine a new and more realistic light on Contador’s defense. If it is confirmed that clenbuterol has been found in other
Spanish meat, the cyclist may be off the hook. The UCI and the World Anti-Doping Agency are monitoring the case.
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