Targeting drugs cheats and traffickers was the focus of the INTERPOL expert group meeting on doping

The two-day meeting from 4-5 November in Paris, co-hosted by INTERPOL and the French Gendarmerie Nationale, brought together more than 30 representatives from 10 countries, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the World Customs Organisation (WCO) enabling experts to share information on case studies from around the world.

A key outcome of the meeting was an agreement to establish a global network of specialists in order to carry out future international operations to combat the illegal production and sale of PIEDs by criminal gangs via the Internet.

Assistant Director of INTERPOL’s Drugs and Criminal Organizations unit, Emmanuel Leclaire, said that the meeting provided a strong base for future collaboration.

“In recent years we have seen a massive increase in sales of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs via the Internet,” said Mr Leclaire.

“This working group meeting has demonstrated the willingness of member countries to share information and expertise in combating doping trafficking and will provide a sound platform for future operations to target this type of criminality.”

The meeting attended by representatives from Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom and the USA, follows the signing of a memorandum of understanding between INTERPOL and WADA in February this year.