Illegal steroid operation gang jailed over £65m distribution Published duration 14 November 2019

image copyright National Crime Agency image caption (L-R) Jacob Sporon-Fiedler, Nathan Selcon, Gurjaipal Dhillon and Mohammed Afzal were sentenced at the Old Bailey

A group of men who ran an operation worth more than £65m distributing illegal steroids have been jailed.

Danish national Jacob Sporon-Fiedler ran an Indian pharmaceutical company that supplied four tonnes of anabolic steroids per month to Europe.

His gang in the UK included former bodybuilding champion Nathan Selcon who had a £1m home in Milton Keynes.

Sporon-Fiedler and Selcon admitted conspiring to import steroids at the Old Bailey.

Sporon-Fiedler, 38, was jailed for five years and four months.

Selcon, 45, was also found guilty of conspiring to manufacture steroids and was sentenced to six years in prison.

Three other men were also convicted for their roles:

Gurjaipal Dhillon, from Southall, west London, arranged dozens of unlicensed steroid shipments from India to Europe and was found guilty of conspiring to import a class C drug. The 65-year-old was jailed for five years.

Mohammed Afzal, 34, from Slough, Berkshire, helped to set up the lab near Heathrow Airport which was used to make own branded drugs. He was found guilty of conspiring to manufacture steroids and was sentenced to two years in prison.

Alexander Macgregor, 50, of Maidenhead, Berkshire, owned a corporate logistics company and was found guilty of conspiring to manufacture steroids. He is due to be sentenced at a later date due to illness.

image copyright National Crime Agency image caption Police raided two laboratories connected to the gang

The steroids - which were similar to those used by the London Bridge and Westminster terrorists - were said to have been sold to bodybuilders, gym users and possibly professional athletes, the court heard.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said it had evidence of at least £65m worth of drugs connected to the gang but the true figure could run into the hundreds of millions.

An investigation began when 600kg of anabolic steroids were seized at Heathrow in 2014.

The NCA raided a laboratory on an industrial estate near Heathrow Airport in March 2015 and discovered packaging for £43m worth of steroids.

The group was also connected to another lab in Slough which produced about £10m worth of steroids before it was raided by Thames Valley Police in 2009.

Sentencing the men, Judge Angela Rafferty QC said: "I am satisfied this was a long-running, sophisticated and well managed operation and no [previous steroid case] is comparable to the scale of this particular conspiracy. This was exceptionally large."

Senior investigator at the NCA David Cunningham said afterwards: "If Sporon-Fiedler thought he could trade class C illicit anabolic steroids and be beyond the reach of law enforcement, he was wrong."