- Bikie gangs have taken control of the illegal substance trade in Australia
- They order cheaper versions of anabolic steroids from south-east Asia off the internet and on-sell to customers
- Drugs are concealed inside everything from sex aids to women's facial creams and even green tea to try and avoid detection at the border
- Outlawed gangs also bringing in the powdered form before turning that into the injectable liquid inside their labs
- Sales are often made from the back of shops and garages
- Human growth hormone sales can be worth $500 for a single dose but others varieties are sold for as little as $50
PUBLISHED: 16:42 EST, 16 March 2015 | UPDATED: 20:30 EST, 16 March 2015
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It's probably not the sort of substance you'd expect bikies to use to smuggle steroids into the country but the body-building drugs market is now considered so lucrative, estimated at a billion dollars in some quarters, that outlaw motorcycle gangs are using 'gay lube oil' to try and hide the ill-gotten gear.
Australians spend up to $10 billion on fitness each year and a large chunk of that money now goes on illegal substances - and criminal syndicates have muscled in on the illegal part of the fitness industry, using extraordinary methods to try and avoid detection.
Steroid oil in sex lube vials, powders inside green tea packets and ephedrine packed in facial creams, are just some of the methods being used to avoid being caught.
With criminal syndicates having had their supply of amphetamines and cocaine severely affected by a record number of busts, they have increasingly focused on the body-building market and are being supplied by underworld gangs in south-east Asia and the Americas.
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The steroid market is now considered so lucrative, outlaw bikie gangs have muscled in on the illegal industry and they're using extraordinary methods to try and avoid detection, including place the substances inside sex aid packaging like these, labelled 'gay lube oil'
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Australian Police say bikie gangs have now shifted focus heavily into the steroid market as authorities crack down on cocaine and amphetamine crime syndicates
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Some estimate the illegal market in steroids across Australia could be worth up to a billion dollars with Australians spending almost $10 billion on fitness each year
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Over the past decade, the number of performance and image enhancing drugs detected at the Australian border has increased 7-fold, with South Australia recording the biggest percentage increase. Motorcycle gangs are trying to avoid detection by putting steroid oil inside products labelled 'sexual lubrication'
'They are getting amongst it more and more, it's a different market for them and we are regularly staging operations targeting them and steroids,' revealed Detective Superintendent Mick Niland, the head of Queensland's Taskforce Maxima.
'They try many different ways to avoid detection, that's for sure.'
And that's because there is an increasing demand for the illegal performance enhancing substances, one which continues to grow every year.
At one Gold Coast health clinic alone, there have been up to 150 steroid injections reported in one month.
Queensland and New South Wales are considered the hot-beds in steroid production and trade with South Australia, reporting the biggest (percentage) increase in the number of seizures in a year, registering just 1 in 2012 and then 30 in 2013.
'Half of our seizures in the past few months have been about steroids,' Dept Supt Niland added.
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'They are always trying different ways to avoid detection,' said Mick Niland of Tasforce Maxima as his group battles against the increasing trade in steroids by bikie gangs and the methods used to avoid detection
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The Bandidos and Lone Wolf bikie gangs have been targeted in raids by authorities trying to break their hold on the new business of steroids distribution
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Queensland police busted a Wavell Heights operation in January, arresting a husband and wife over this haul
Steroid seizures and arrests are climbing every year, they are now at record levels and show no sign of declining, with the trade controlled by the motorcycle gangs, who are increasingly using the back of stores and city garages, instead of gyms and their traditional club-houses, to sell the illicit products.
It's not just the 20-something gym junkies they're selling to, recent surveys have revealed that up to 3 per cent of 12 to 17-year-old school students have admitted to using steroids to bulk up.
Taskforce Maxima commenced in October of 2013 and 'initially we did find just small quantities of steroids within the gangs'.
'Since then it has grown, both the local production and trafficking of steroids.'
In the past six months alone, Customs has intercepted more than 3000 packages of steroids, from all parts of the globe.
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Outlaw motorcycle gangs have muscled in on the illegal part of the fitness industry, using extraordinary methods to try and avoid detection of steroid shipments
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Customs officials are finding steroids secreted in a variety of manners, including pills and powder inside herbal products and even green tea packaging. They are even importing ephedrine in women's facial creams
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Tasforce Maxima, along with officials from the AFP and Customs, raided 10 properties across parts of Queensland, arresting 7 people and locating 200 vials of Human Growth Hormone
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Half of our seizures in the past few months have been about steroids,' Detective Superintendent Mick Niland has revealed. He is the head of Queensland's Taskforce Maxima, which investigates the dealings of outlaw bikies gangs
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In the past six months alone, Customs has intercepted more than 3000 packages of steroids, from all parts of the globe. During one raid, police answered a knock at the door - it was a courier delivering another package of steroids sent from the US to the same address
One dose of Human Growth Hormone (HGH) can cost about $500, a vial of testosterone for more than $200 but there are other substances which can be bought on the black market for as little as $50 for a 10-week course.
Most users find it easier and safer to pay more locally, rather than order the drugs themselves, from overseas.
'They are brought in from all over,' Det Supt Niland said.
'Europe, the US and mostly south-east Asia, quite a lot from Thailand and also China.
'We've set up a close alliance with Customs and other strategic partners, including the AFP and other national anti-gangs units and conducted a number of investigations, and in particular we've seen the trafficking and production linked to the Lone Wolf and Bandidos gangs.'
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A caes full of PIEDs. Officers seized large quantities of illegal performance and image-enhancing drugs after searching a property in Adelaide's south
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Customs uncovered this haul of steroids during an operation at Gold Coast Airport. Bikies are trying to disguise their illicit substances inside sex aid bottles, facial creams and herbal teas
He revealed that the Taskforce most recently busted a major syndicate involving bikies, personal trainers and supplement stores, in 10 raids across Queensland.
Over the past decade, the number of performance and image enhancing drugs detected at the Australian border has increased 7-fold, with the 10,356 detections in the year 2012–13. That was a record number, which was exceeded last year and will be again this time around when figures are collated by the Australian Crime Commission in three months.
The use of performance and image-enhancing drugs (PIEDs), is now so bad that many gyms have been forced to put syringe disposal bins in place, to ensure the safety of other gym members.
The problem for local authorities, is that the local bikie gangs have linked with criminal syndicates overseas.
'It is all linked to criminal partners off-shore and one major issue, of course, is the accessibility via the internet,' he said.
Det Supt Niland revealed that during a recent raid in Brisbane, detectives even took delivery from a courier.
'They were conducting a search when the courier arrived and delivered a package which had been sent form the United States to the same address, where they were making arrests.
'There were 300 ampoules full of injectable steroids inside the package.'
Over the past six months, the Queensland Taskforce has made 73 arrests for possession, production and trafficking in steroids .. after raids in more than 50 properties.
'It's very much Gold Coast and Brisbane based where the majority of steroids are being located, but steroids have been located over the length and breadth of Queensland,' he added.
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Part of the bust at Gold Coast Airport which netted 29,000 steroid tablets
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Customs and Border Protection officers in WA found these body-building drugs and weapons inside a case at Perth Airport
'This is a trans-national crime, there are no borders for the bikies at the present time, there's movement across not just the state, but also national and international borders.
'The trafficking which is occurring ranges from the low level personal use to imported raw steroid powders which are then produced into injectable varieties, from south-east Asia primarily.
'It was once a boutique market, which is growing rapidly and they are not just selling, they are using as well and we are very well aware of the effects it has when they are using.'
The Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission reports that: 'There has been an increase in the use of Performance and Image Enhancing Drugs (PIED) by younger people, particularly male adolescents, motivated by body image rather than performance.'
'PIEDs are diverted for misuse and supply through a range of sources, including the internet.'
'The likelihood of the illicit market continuing to expand will be dictated by the demand for the substance and the ability of suppliers (whether they be individuals or organised syndicates) to continue to access and import required quantities. Should this happen, it is likely that there will be an increase in this market.'
That market is clearly on the rise, with up to 10 per cent of those using needle exchanges now admitting to injecting steroids - up from 2 per cent just seven years ago.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...police-crack-cocaine-trade.html#ixzz3UcMxivuS
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