• The research was carried out in two phases; In the first, 24 people were arrested for crimes against public health and crimes against consumers, among others, and 390,000 euros in cash and 24,000 euros in virtual currencies were seized, resulting in the discovery of assets of 7,500,000 euros among those investigated.
• In the second phase, ten people have been arrested for money laundering and belonging to a criminal organization who allegedly deposited more than 1,100,000 euros in cash through their accounts and those of companies in their name, and allegedly introduced more than five million euros into the legal financial circuit without justification.
• The organization obtained its profits through the sale of anabolic steroids in stores selling dietary supplements for athletes in Spain.

February 27, 2024.- Customs Surveillance officials of the Tax Agency, in a joint operation with agents of the National Police, have dismantled in La Línea de la Concepción a criminal organization dedicated to the illicit trafficking of anabolic steroids and money laundering. The organisation allegedly made its profits through the sale of anabolic steroids in sports supplement stores in Spain. The investigation was carried out in two phases, in which 24 people were arrested for crimes against public health, among others, in the first phase; and ten people for money laundering in the second phase.

The investigation began when agents from the Central Unit for Specialized and Violent Crime received a communication from the Bulgarian Embassy in Spain, which reported the shipment of anabolic steroids via courier companies to the province of Cadiz.

Following the investigations carried out in the first phase, at the end of 2022, 24 people were arrested for crimes against public health, membership in a criminal organisation, crimes against consumers and falsification of documents.

During this first phase of exploitation of the police operation, it was concluded with the seizure of 390,000 euros in cash, 690,000 euros blocked in bank accounts, 24,000 euros in various cryptocurrencies, four vehicles seized, and 53 vehicles and 25 properties immobilized. The total assets of those investigated amount to approximately 7,500,000 euros.

Money laundering investigation

In the second phase, and based on the asset laundering investigation carried out by Customs Surveillance, more than one hundred bank accounts were analysed, and it was possible to demonstrate that during the years 2020 to 2022 the detainees had deposited more than 1,100,000 euros in cash through their personal accounts and those of companies in their name, as well as that they had introduced more than five million euros into the financial legal circuit in an unjustified manner.

The large volume of cash used by the suspects has been fully confirmed, not only by the volume of deposits found in their accounts, but also by the significant amounts of cash seized during the searches, with more than 100,000 euros being found in some of them in bundles of small bills and distributed in different rooms of the houses. Part of the cash was used to purchase movable and immovable property, paid directly with cash.

This investigation was initiated in the Court of Instruction number one of San Roque (Cádiz), and is currently being conducted by the Central Court of Instruction number five of Madrid.