Jacob Sporon-Fielder was jailed for five years and four months, while a close associate of his was sentenced to six years' imprisonment.
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The world’s biggest supplier of illicit anabolic steroids has been jailed after his gang flooded the UK with at least £65 million worth of the drugs.
Jacob Sporon-Fiedler ran an Indian pharmaceutical company supplying four tonnes, worth up to £5m each, a month to the European market.
He was jailed for five years and four months, while a close associate of his was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.
Investigators believe the steroids, like those used by the London Bridge and Westminster terrorists, were sold on to bodybuilders, gym goers and possibly even top-class professional athletes.
Mr Sporon-Fiedler, a Danish national, lived in a luxury apartment in an exclusive area of Mumbai, funnelling his profits through bank accounts in Hong Kong, Singapore and the Seychelles.
His UK fixers, including former bodybuilding champion Nathan Selcon, 45, enjoyed the flamboyant lifestyles of millionaires.
Selcon, who ran the Athlete King supplement shop, had a £1m home in Milton Keynes and drove a fleet of expensive vehicles, including a Ferrari and a Range Rover.
Alexander Macgregor, 50, of Maidenhead, who owned CE corporate logistics in an adjacent unit to Selcon’s store, had five Porsches which he enjoyed racing.
Gurjaipal Dhillon, from Southall, west London, acted as a fixer for the group – arranging dozens of unlicensed steroid shipments from India into Europe.
He was found guilty of conspiring to import a class C drug following a six-week trial at the Old Bailey.
‘Exceptionally large’ operation
The National Crime Agency (NCA) smashed the European arm of the business after a five-year probe starting when 600kg of anabolic steroids were seized at Heathrow in 2014.
Investigators believe the gang was operating as early as 2003 and have linked it to the importation of around 16 tonnes of steroids into the UK, with an estimated value of around £12m.
Selcon, Macgregor and Mohammed Afzal had set up a hospital standard bespoke air-conditioned laboratory on an industrial estate near Heathrow Airport to make their own branded drugs.
When the NCA raided the lab behind the four-star Sheraton Hotel – where Sporon-Fiedler would stay on trips to the UK – in March 2015, officers found packaging and labelling for £43 million worth of the class C drug.
The group was also linked to another lab in Slough, which had produced around £10m worth of steroids before it was raided by Thames Valley Police in 2009.
The NCA has evidence of at least £65m worth of drugs but the true scale of the business could be much larger, with profits running into the hundreds of millions of pounds.
Sporon-Fiedler used encrypted computers and phones but otherwise ran his Alpha Pharma business as if it were a legitimate enterprise and it became one of the world’s most well-known premium steroid brands.
Investigators were able to trace shipping consignments and follow phone traffic, while a notebook kept by Dhillon detailed the money coming in, with more than £600,000 worth of sales outlined on just one page.
The gang even had its own CCTV cameras pointed at their UK lab, which caught members clearing it out after Sporon-Fiedler tipped them off after his arrest in 2015.
He was granted bail with a £600,000 security payment – believed to be one of the largest amounts ever in the UK – which was raised to £700,000 after he researched citizenship in the Ukraine and Guatemala before being caught with £10,000 in his pocket.
Sporon-Fiedler and Selcon admitted conspiring to import steroids at the Old Bailey, while Dhillon was found guilty of the charge.
Selcon, Afzal and Macgregor were found guilty of conspiring to manufacture steroids following a two-month trial.
At a sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey on Thursday, 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.”
But she added that despite the risks, there was no evidence the steroids had been contaminated or cut with harmful bulking agents.
“I also accept the nature of these drugs are said to be less harmful than other class C drugs and that they are legal to import for personal use,” she said.
Sporon-Fiedler was jailed for five years and four months, while Selcon was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.
Dhillon was handed five years’ imprisonment and Afzal was jailed for two years.
Macgregor is due to be sentenced at a later date due to illness.
In the UK, it is not illegal to possess anabolic steroids for personal use or bring them in to the country on your person, but it is illegal to supply them and import them.
Short HeadlineWorld's biggest illegal steroids supplier jailed
StandfirstJacob Sporon-Fiedler ran an Indian pharmaceutical company supplying four tonnes of steroids, worth up to £5m each, a month to the European market.
The drug-smuggling boss is currently awaiting the result of his sentencing at The Old Bailey, after being convicted of importing illegal steroids into the UK.
Jacob Sporon-Fiedler, the founder of healthcare firm Alpha-Pharma, based in Mumbai, India, admitted conspiring to import steroids between March 2009 and April 2015.
Mr Sporon-Fiedler, 38, imported 16 tonnes of performance-enhancing drugs into the UK from India with the help of a gang including former champion bodybuilder Nathan Selcon, 45.
Questions were raised by the defendant about the true weight of the intercepted shipment, claiming the weight of the plastic and aluminium packaging exaggerated actual drugs seized.
Court was adjourned to take this into consideration and was interrupted further by a fight that broke out in a room ext to the chamber.
The sentencing is due to be announced within the next two days.
The world’s biggest supplier of illicit anabolic steroids has been jailed after his gang flooded the UK with at least £65 million worth of the drugs.
Jacob Sporon-Fiedler ran an Indian pharmaceutical company supplying four tonnes, worth up to £5m each, a month to the European market.
He was jailed for five years and four months, while a close associate of his was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.
Investigators believe the steroids, like those used by the London Bridge and Westminster terrorists, were sold on to bodybuilders, gym goers and possibly even top-class professional athletes.
Mr Sporon-Fiedler, a Danish national, lived in a luxury apartment in an exclusive area of Mumbai, funnelling his profits through bank accounts in Hong Kong, Singapore and the Seychelles.
His UK fixers, including former bodybuilding champion Nathan Selcon, 45, enjoyed the flamboyant lifestyles of millionaires.
Selcon, who ran the Athlete King supplement shop, had a £1m home in Milton Keynes and drove a fleet of expensive vehicles, including a Ferrari and a Range Rover.
Alexander Macgregor, 50, of Maidenhead, who owned CE corporate logistics in an adjacent unit to Selcon’s store, had five Porsches which he enjoyed racing.
Gurjaipal Dhillon, from Southall, west London, acted as a fixer for the group – arranging dozens of unlicensed steroid shipments from India into Europe.
He was found guilty of conspiring to import a class C drug following a six-week trial at the Old Bailey.
‘Exceptionally large’ operation
The National Crime Agency (NCA) smashed the European arm of the business after a five-year probe starting when 600kg of anabolic steroids were seized at Heathrow in 2014.
Investigators believe the gang was operating as early as 2003 and have linked it to the importation of around 16 tonnes of steroids into the UK, with an estimated value of around £12m.
Selcon, Macgregor and Mohammed Afzal had set up a hospital standard bespoke air-conditioned laboratory on an industrial estate near Heathrow Airport to make their own branded drugs.
When the NCA raided the lab behind the four-star Sheraton Hotel – where Sporon-Fiedler would stay on trips to the UK – in March 2015, officers found packaging and labelling for £43 million worth of the class C drug.
The group was also linked to another lab in Slough, which had produced around £10m worth of steroids before it was raided by Thames Valley Police in 2009.
The NCA has evidence of at least £65m worth of drugs but the true scale of the business could be much larger, with profits running into the hundreds of millions of pounds.
Sporon-Fiedler used encrypted computers and phones but otherwise ran his Alpha Pharma business as if it were a legitimate enterprise and it became one of the world’s most well-known premium steroid brands.
Investigators were able to trace shipping consignments and follow phone traffic, while a notebook kept by Dhillon detailed the money coming in, with more than £600,000 worth of sales outlined on just one page.
The gang even had its own CCTV cameras pointed at their UK lab, which caught members clearing it out after Sporon-Fiedler tipped them off after his arrest in 2015.
He was granted bail with a £600,000 security payment – believed to be one of the largest amounts ever in the UK – which was raised to £700,000 after he researched citizenship in the Ukraine and Guatemala before being caught with £10,000 in his pocket.
Sporon-Fiedler and Selcon admitted conspiring to import steroids at the Old Bailey, while Dhillon was found guilty of the charge.
Selcon, Afzal and Macgregor were found guilty of conspiring to manufacture steroids following a two-month trial.
At a sentencing hearing at the Old Bailey on Thursday, 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.”
But she added that despite the risks, there was no evidence the steroids had been contaminated or cut with harmful bulking agents.
“I also accept the nature of these drugs are said to be less harmful than other class C drugs and that they are legal to import for personal use,” she said.
Sporon-Fiedler was jailed for five years and four months, while Selcon was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment.
Dhillon was handed five years’ imprisonment and Afzal was jailed for two years.
Macgregor is due to be sentenced at a later date due to illness.
In the UK, it is not illegal to possess anabolic steroids for personal use or bring them in to the country on your person, but it is illegal to supply them and import them.
