Spain nabs ring that sold banned drug

Spanish police have dismantled a crime ring that mailed banned doping blood booster Erythropoietin (EPO) to athletes across Europe, seizing the continent’s largest haul of injectable EPO to date, police said on Thursday. More than 850 ready-to-use injections were confiscated and six people have been placed under investigation on charges of crimes against public health and participating in a criminal organization which police said in a statement had been operating for the past 10 years. Police said the probe was still in a preliminary stage and they aimed to discover who the clients were. “The investigation ... will result in an extensive list of potential users, among whom it is expected that there will be a large number of athletes, both national and international, from different sporting disciplines and levels,” the statement said. So far the search for clients of the doping ring has led to the blocking of bank accounts in Austria, Slovakia and Cyprus, police said.