MONTREAL -- Four members of Canada's national weightlifting team have been charged with illegally importing 22,515 capsules of anabolic steroids and 414 vials of testosterone seized in an airport luggage search, police said Friday.
A spokesman for the Quebec Police Force said the drugs were found in the athletes' baggage at Montreal's Mirabel Airport last Monday when the five-member team returned from the World Weightlifting Championships in Moscow.
Jacques Demers, 23, of St. Hubert, Que., Mario Parente, 20, Montreal, Michel Pietracupa, 24, St. Hyacinthe, Que., and Terry Hadlow, 26, of Ottawa were charged with illegally importing prescription drugs, the police spokesman said. The four were to appear in Quebec Sessions court Dec. 7 to be arraigned.
The drugs, used to build mus:le bulk and increase competitive drive, are available only through prescription in Canada. Under the Food and Drug Act, such importation is a Criminal Code offense punishable upon conviction by fine of $500 or up to three years in prison.
The Quebec Police Force official said 100 capsules of steroids could be bought for $1 from Soviet athletes and resold in Canada for $35 per 100 capsules.
Police said the search of the athletes' luggage followed a three-week investigation. No arrests had been made, they said, but the athletes had been questioned. They were being sent court summonses by mail.
The incident follows a major controversy over the use of steroids among weightlifters and other athletes at the Pan American Games in Caracas, Venezuela in August.
Canadian weightlifters Guy Greavette of New Westminster, B.C. and Michel Viau of St. Stanislas, Que. were forced to return medals won at the Pan Am Games after sensitive drug-testing equipment revealed the athletes had used steroids.
In Vancouver, Greavette reacted to word of the charges against his former teammates by declaring that members of Canada's national athletic teams illegally import such steroids on a regular basis.
'It's unfortunate, but nothing new. This has been happening for years,' said Greavette, who cited Eastern Bloc nations as the world's most plentiful source of cheap anabolic steroids.
'Those drugs are so much cheaper over there and easier to get, so you just go for it. You know it's going to help -- it's so tempting.'
In Ottawa, the Canadian Weightlifting Federation released a prepared statement which said the athletes acted on their own in procuring any drugs.
'The CWF has actively discouraged the use of these substances by its athletes,' the statement read. 'Monitoring is difficult, however, and the CWF cannot be held responsible for the actions of individual athletes who have acted on their own against the policies of the CWF.
'Officials, coaches and administrators of the CWF are not empowered to violate the privacy of Canadian athletes. Consequently they have no control over or knowledge of these athletes' private activities whether in Canada or abroad.'
Steroids, among more than 100 substances banned from use by athletes by the International Olympic Committee, have been linked to kidney and liver damage, heart disease and sterility in men.
The five-man Canadian team which competed in Moscow did not win any medals, but all five finished in the top 12 in their weight classes, thereby earning 'B' level international competition cards.
