Global sports drug business kingpin operates from Mumbai: German TV channel

A kingpin in the global sports drug business operates from his Mumbai-based pharma company from where he "illegally" distributes prohibited substances to other parts of the world, according to a documentary by reputed German television channel ARD.

Denmark native Jacob Sporon-Fiedler, who resides in India, illegally imported anabolic steroids into the European Union and orchestrates the operation with his Mumbai-based company Alpha Pharma, a key player in a growing global industry, a report in www.sportschau.de, the sports webpage of ARD said.

ARD is the German TV channel which first reported in December 2014 allegations of systematic doping in Russian athletics, through whistle blowers Vitaly Stepanov, a former Russian Anti-Doping Agency official, and his wife Yulia, an 800m runner, which ultimately led to the ban of the Russian track federation in 2015.

The documentary titled "Doping Top Secret: DEALER", was the work of noted reporter Von Hajo Seppelt, who had first reported the Russian doping story, and three other journalists. Seppelt and his team travelled around the world -- from India, Denmark and Singapore to Northern Ireland, Poland and Paraguay -- in an under cover investigation lasting over two years to unearth "a unique inside view of an international doping trade, with estimated annual turnover of around 15 billion euros".

"In the Indian port-city of Mumbai the ARD team found potential partners for producing doping substances and their illegal distribution in the European market. The journalists also received indications that Sporon-Fiedler was again involved in the doping business," the reprt said.

"ARD’s team then paid him a visit under a false identity and, using hidden cameras, ordered doping substances to be delivered to Germany. After Sporon-Fiedler successfully had them delivered illegally, it was clear: he was back in business."

According to the report, one of those who distributed Alpha Pharma products in Germany was Andre Boge, a former professional soldier and who earlier "set up his own doping business from Lower Saxony and earned thousands of euros per week".

John McLaughlin, a long-time investigator with the UK’s National Crime Agency and who arrested Sporon-Fiedler in 2018, said much of the business with ... sports fraud works far too easily.

"The days of people robbing a bank with a shotgun are gone, smart guys sit in their office in Mumbai and have people on the end of their BlackBerry doing stuff all over the world. And they make lots of money. The risk of them going to jail? Very low," he said.