Law enforcement officers official sites of both clubs report, the defendants made mixtures for building muscle mass, "drying" the body and losing weight in an ordinary apartment without observing elementary safety or hygiene requirements. The preparations included active substances intended for the treatment of serious diseases - in particular cancer. Such components have clear contraindications, but the perpetrators sold them in increased doses, without a prescription and without any medical supervision.
The products were sold under the guise of an imported drug from Malaysia, although in fact they were produced in the Kharkiv region. The packaging was falsified - with fake logos, instructions and serial numbers, which created the impression of a real medicine. The cost of one unit of the dangerous product reached 3000 hryvnias.
The operation was dismantled by investigators of the Main Investigation Department of the Police with the operational support of the Criminal Investigation Department and the assistance of the Main Department of Internal Security of the SBU under the procedural guidance of the Prosecutor General's Office.
The criminal police officers identified all five suspects: two residents of the Kharkiv region were engaged in the full production cycle - from the mixture to packaging, and three more - brothers from the Lviv region - purchased the products and sold them to athletes throughout Ukraine via the Internet. It was established that shipments took place almost daily, and the perpetrators themselves planned to expand production.
During simultaneous authorized searches in the Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odesa, and Lviv regions, police seized over 20 packages of anabolic steroids, 000 ampoules with substances of unknown origin, special equipment for manufacturing, packaging, and labeling products, as well as over 3 million hryvnias in various currencies.
Police investigators have charged all five with selling knowingly falsified medicines using information technology, committed by an organized group (Part 3, Article 321-1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine). This is the first suspicion in the history of Ukraine of falsification of steroids: the police were able to prove that the drugs contained active substances that, according to the law, are medicines.
The defendants face up to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property.
