A Lebanese man pleaded guilty to smuggling 1,364 ampoules of anabolic steroids into Australia. Youssef Amoud was ordered to pay more than $23,000 in fines and penalties by the Downing Centre Local Court in Sydney. The Lebanese citizen attempted to smuggle over a thousand ampoules of Testosterone Enanthate manufactured by the Iranian Aburaihan Company into Australia while traveling on a temporary visa. Amoud was busted on January 23, 2009 after arriving at the Sydney International Airport on a flight originating out of Lebanon (”$23,000 penalty for smuggling steroids,” March 11).
A Customs and Border Protection investigation led to Mr Youssef Amoud being charged with importing prohibited imports contrary to section 233(1)(b) and making a false statement contrary to section 234(1)(d)(i) of the Customs Act 1901.
Customs and Border Protection officers conducted a search of Mr Amoud’s baggage, acting on a referral from the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service, when he arrived at Sydney International Airport on a flight from Lebanon on Friday 23 January 2009.
The anabolic steroid ampoules were discovered during a search of Amoud’s luggage hidden in several areas including the base of a table lamp, a toy clock and a digital box receiver. Australian Customs and Border Protection performed laboratory analysis on the liquid substance and confirmed that the ampoules contained testosterone enanthate as indicated by the writing on the actual ampoules. The 1,364 testosterone ampoules confiscated were purportedly valued at almost $23,000 on the street.
An Australian woman and a Lebanese man were arrested at the Sydney Airport after attempting to smuggle a substantial amount of anabolic steroids. The man and woman arrived in Sydney on two separate flights from Lebanon on February 17th and February 18th, respectively. Australian Customs and Border Protection discovered a total of almost 3,000 ampoules of injectable testosterone enanthate manufactured by the Aburaihan Company (Iran) and almost 5,000 oral steroid tablets in their luggage. The steroids were hidden inside an “art clock” that resembled a very large mobile telephone that was branded with NOKNA instead of NOKIA. A customs official claimed that the two cases are completely unrelated (”Man and woman arrested over smuggling steroids into Sydney,” February 19).
A 33-year-old Australian woman arrived at Sydney airport yesterday and a search of her luggage allegedly revealed 2,205 vials of testosterone and 4,800 tablets. [...]
Her arrest followed that of a 32-year-old Lebanese man who arrived at Sydney airport from Lebanon on Tuesday.
Customs alleged 497 vials of testosterone were detected in his luggage after he arrived on a flight from Lebanon.
Australian customs spokesperson reminds the media that protecting the Australian border from anabolic steroids is a high priority for the Australian government agency Read more
When Richard Janeczko, Australian Customs national investigations manager, intercepted 80 kilograms of anabolic steroid powder in Sydney in June 2008, he immediately suspected that Australian Olympic athletes were the intended recipients of these steroids even though absolutely NO link with Australian athletes had been uncovered.
But when Australian Customs intercepted 150 bottle bottles of testosterone and Deca Durabolin disguised as “Gay Lube Oil,” Janeczko was quick to emphasize how unlikely it would be for Australia’s Olympic athletes to use steroids marketed as “Gay Lube Oil” (”Gay lube oil contained banned steroids,” July 30).
“The bulk of the people we investigate are actually not elite sports people. The people that want to enhance their image either gym people, security guards, bikies.”
It is thought that Janeczko believes Australian athletes only use steroids with names like “British Dragon” and “Animal Power” with bulldogs, horses, bulls, dragons (and of course kangaroos) on the labels. Read more
