Czech police announced today that they busted an organized crime ring that had a factor that made “hundreds of thousands of [counterfeit] tablets.”

The crime ring, composed of ex-athletes, body builders, fitness trainers and coaches, produced and sold counterfeit anabolic steroids and other hormone-based drugs.

The police’s unit for combating organized crime, (ÚOOZ), said that eight Czechs and three Slovacks were arrested as a result of surveillance that began in 2010. ÚOOZ monitored a secret manufacturing site in the eastern Zlín region.

The counterfeit medicine produced at the factory were sold not just to professional athletes purportedly for athletic enhancement purposes, but also for kidney and liver disease, as well as erectile dysfunction.

Police believe the counterfeit drugs were distributed throughout the EU. Those detained could face between five and twelve years in prison if found guilty of charges.Among the several hundred thousand pills found in the factor were 24 kilograms of blue pills labeled “for men,” and Kč 500,000, approximately $30,000.

Source-- Czech Position