Police have dismantled a steroid network based in a pharmacy basement in Halandri, Athens, arresting 14 people including the alleged ringleader, a 51-year-old pharmacist.
The pharmacist installed an unlicensed laboratory beneath his business, where a team including biologists manufactured pharmaceutical compounds without authorization from Greece’s National Medicines Organization. Products were shipped through the pharmacy or routed to a packaging company owned by a 26-year-old foreign national, also unlicensed.
The ring marketed substances online, delivering orders in person or by parcel falsely labeled as dietary supplements. Products included weight-loss drugs, erectile dysfunction treatments, and doping agents. Some contained experimental substances or raw materials of dubious origin; counterfeits were seized.
Police confiscated 40,800 units, 13 kilograms of raw material, and €47,320 in cash. Over 15,000 shipments reached customers in Greece and 90 other countries, with illegal proceeds exceeding €1 million. The network operated since January 2024.
