Illegal steroid gang told to pay £2m
Maidenhead/Dorney: Major operation catches global smugglers
Four members of a global steroid gang – including men from Maidenhead and Dorney Reach – have been told to hand over a combined £2million in crime proceeds.
Nathan Selcon, from Altwood Road, Maidenhead, and Alexander MacGregor, of Harcourt Road, Dorney Reach, were involved in the international criminal enterprise.
The trio worked alongside ringleader Jacob Sporon-Fiedler, from Mumbai, India, Mohammed Afzal, from Belgrave Road,
Slough, and Gurjaipal Dhillon, of Southall, London – arranging dozens of unlicensed shipments of drugs from India into Europe, and then distributing them.
Following an investigation by the National Crime Agency
(NCA), four members of the group have been ordered to pay back millions in cash made from their criminal exploits.
Selcon and Afzal were convicted at the Old Bailey in London in November 2019, while MacGregor was later jailed in December 2020 for his involvement.
The NCA began an investigation into the group in 2014, following an initial seizure of steroids that were being shipped to Belfast.
The trail of evidence led back to
Sporon-Fiedler, the CEO of Indianbased company Alpha Pharma.
Investigators found he worked with a network of UK-based fixers, responsible for arranging dozens of unlicensed shipments of drugs from India into Europe, and then distributing them.
The illegally imported drugs – made by Sporon-Fiedler’s pharmaceutical company in India – were shipped to the UK to be distributed by co-conspirator Selcon, who would sell them to body builders and fitness fanatics on the black market.
Selcon worked with MacGregor and Afzal, who between them had set up a purpose built illicit steroid laboratory to manufacture their own branded drugs.
Following their convictions, NCA financial investigators began their work to identify assets linked to the gang which could be seized under the Proceeds of
Crime Act (POCA).
The largest single confiscation order was handed to MacGregor at the Old Bailey.
On Wednesday, he was ordered to pay £1.16million within three months, or face an extra seven years in jail while still being liable for the money.
Assets belonging to MacGregor identified by the NCA included bank accounts and share portfolios, a Porsche 911 GT3 sports car, a Ferrari 458, a Mercedes G
Wagon, two Beretta shotguns and several high-value Rolex and Audemars Piguet watches.
Ringleader Sporon-Fiedler had already been ordered by the court to hand over more than £700,000, while a confiscation order made against Selcon means he has had to pay £3,300.
A confiscation hearing relating to assets held by Afzal is due to take place in February.
NCA Regional Head of Investigation Rob Burgess said: “These men were part of an organised crime group involved in a multimillion-pound global enterprise to manufacture and supply banned anabolic steroids.
“The confiscation orders obtained so far in this case are the results of painstaking work undertaken by NCA investigators over a period of several years. It demonstrates our determination to go after criminal profits and prevent organised criminals from benefiting financially from their criminality.”