The coach of world 1,500m champion Genzebe Dibaba and other long-distance runners was on Monday arrested near Barcelona after Spanish police raided his hotel room and found traces of erythropoietin and other banned substances.
Jama Aden, who is from Somalia, was detained along with another athletics trainer from Morocco as the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) tested 28 of the 30 athletes who were also guests at a hotel in Sabadell, about 25km from Barcelona. Aden has held annual training camps in the area since 2013.
Details of the Moroccan trainer were not released.
Photo: EPA
Police said Aden and his trainer were arrested on charges of administering and distributing doping substances and endangering public health.
The IAAF said the arrest was the result of an investigation it began in 2013.
“The IAAF will use all available resources and powers to protect clean athletes and the integrity of our sport,” the IAAF said in a statement. “This includes targeting and investigating individuals and coaches who are intent on exploiting athletes and promoting the use of prohibited substances.”
The Spanish anti-doping agency alerted local authorities last year and a thorough investigation followed until the raid on Monday at the Hotel Arrahona, close to the training facilities where some athletes were preparing for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
Up to 60 used syringes were found in the raid, although the police did not specify if all of them came from Aden’s or his trainer’s room.
After questioning by law enforcement, both detainees can face prosecution within 72 hours.
Local authorities did not expect further arrests to follow.
Including Dibaba, the athletes at the raided hotel were mainly from countries including Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Qatar.
The probe was named “Operation Rial” by investigators. Rial is also the name of the currency used in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region.
By late afternoon, all but two of the 30 athletes had undergone anti-doping testing conducted by half a dozen representatives from the IAAF.
Dibaba is favored to win the women’s 1,500m Olympic title in Rio de Janeiro in August.
A simultaneous police raid in Madrid resulted in 16 arrests related to the trafficking of drugs and anabolic steroids.
Despite coinciding in time, law enforcement officers stressed there was no connection between the Sabadell operation and the police action in the Spanish capital, mainly linked to the bodybuilding underground market for steroid users.
Spain has long been under the scrutiny of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which declared its authorities “non-compliant” with its global code, because they failed to make required law changes on doping.
Spain was unable to form a government following elections last year, so parliament could not update its anti-doping legislation to match revised international regulations. New elections are set for Sunday.
WADA followed up earlier this month by suspending the accreditation of the Madrid drug-testing lab.
However, a local court on Tuesday last week ruled that blood bags that are key evidence in one of Spain’s worst doping scandals should be handed over to authorities for investigation.
The Madrid Provincial Court said bags containing blood samples and plasma should be handed over to WADA, the Spanish Cycling Federation, the International Cycling Union and Italy’s Olympic committee.
The announcement came 10 years after another high-profile raid, Operation Puerto, revealed a doping network involving some of the world’s top cyclists, when police seized coded blood bags from the Madrid clinic of sports doctor Eufemiano Fuentes.
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