The Spanish Guardia Civil has arrested 34 people in relation to a Clenbuterol trafficking ring that operated in Gran Canaria and Tenerife, charging them of crimes against public health and of forgery.
Thirteen pharmacists, eight pharmacy technicians, eight vets from Gran Canaria and one in Tenerife, a farmer, a sales manager for pharmaceutical products, a bodybuilder and a cyclist were amongst those taken into custody, according to EFE.
Amongst the charges are the aforementioned crimes against public health, as well as forgery for allegedly dispensing and supplying the drug for use in a non-legal manner, plus forgery of the veterinary prescription to justify the sales.
Codenamed Operacion Viar, the investigation began when an unnamed-individual was caught injected Clenbuterol into a horse shortly before a race in Valleseco. The dispensing of this drug was traced back to a vet, after which the enquiries intensified and more people were found to be under suspicion of breaking the various laws.
Initial indications are that the forgeries of prescriptions also paved the way for farms in Gran Canaria and Tenerife to illegally use the substance as a lean meat promoter in animals.
The investigation is ongoing, and more arrests are possible.
While the cyclist who has been arrested is the sole link to the sport thus far, the story is relevant as Tour de France champion Alberto Contador has tested positive for the same substance. He claimed that he ate it in contaminated meat bought by a friend in Irun, on the French-Spanish border, and brought to the Tour.
Clenbuterol use has been banned in livestock for several years and testing in 2008 and 2009 revealed no traces of the substance. Contador must provide proof that the ingestion of the substance did indeed come from this source in order to try to escape, or reduce, sanction.
The UCI and WADA are investigating his case but have not yet indicated a timescale for a decision.
Gran Canaria and Tenerife are popular training locations for professional cyclists due to the terrain and possibility of altitude training on the latter. The alleged doping doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, who was at the epicentre of the Operación Puerto doping affair, lives in Gran Canaria.