Police arrested 40 people on Wednesday morning in a major steroid raid. This shows a country-wide organization of steroids and money laundering in Sweden.

Police raided 9 locations in Sweden – Malmö, Gothenburg, Karlstad, Örebro, Eskilstuna, Stockholm, Sollefteå, Örnsköldsvik and Umeå.

In total around 300 police officers and a large number of officials from the prosecutor’s office, customs, tax and bailiffs were involved in the raid.

The action is known as “Operation” Liquid “and described as a national effort against serious doping offenses. The operation was carried out during The government’s mission in the fight against serious organized crime, according to a press release from police.

Raids across the country will have “Hedged asset or property financed by crime” and police say they have made “substantial and significant seizure” from the searches.

- Large quantities of doping substances have been seized, but also money, computers and documents, says Christer Johansson, spokeswoman for police in Västernorrland, for DN.se.

The background to the country-wide operation goes back to last spring when a customs officer discovered a mysterious package at the airport. The package turned out to contain a large amount of growth hormone.

- Since the package was intended for a receiver in Västernorrland the case was handed over to the narcotics police in Sundsvall, who then ran the investigation in conjunction with Customs.

During the summer, the investigation grew and after a few months, more forces were brought in.

- We heard about other traders through, inter alia, interception. The investigation became more and more widespread – in the end was all over Sweden involved with investigations further in Europe.

40 people were arrested on Wednesday. The police conducted house searches and arrests at nine locations in Sweden during the morning hours. The greatest effort is reported to have been made in Karlstad, Orebro and Umeå. Of the 40 people who were arrested on Wednesday about ten were residents of Örebro and Karlstad, nine men and four women arrested. Classification of Offenses are drug offense. According to police, most of those arrested were bodybuilders.

Investigative material shows an organized and extensive business dealing in illegal substances across the country. The activity is reported to have netted large amounts of cash.

Police said additional arrests will still occur and a number of people will be called for questioning.

Source: http://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/razzia-doping-tullen-operation-liquid-1.1010782

Q.: Hello, Mr. Hausmann, to begin with, please, tell us about yourself in brief.

Hello, I live in Germany, Munich, I’m now 34, I have a beautiful wife, a charming daughter of 4 years. I used to work in the fitness center for a few years, but 6 years ago I decided to build my body too and to look like all those trainers in the gym. Well, as you see, I managed to do this. Bodybuilding has become my way of life since then.

Q.: Today the attitude to bodybuilders has become worse, and there are many people thinking, that bodybuilders are stupid and think only about how to eat something and how to train – nothing else interests them. How could you comment on that?

I would tell those people: do you remember “Pumping Iron” with Arnold Schwarzenegger? If not, take time to watch it again and you will see, that Arnold is always smiling, cheerful and sociable. This person has achieved a lot in personal life, sports and career. And this is the fact. With the status Arnold has now can he be called stupid? I don’t think so.

Q.: Do bodybuilders have time for other activities except workouts in the gym?

Bodybuilding is great. Working out in the gym doesn’t prevent you from doing other things. You may study, work and perform a whole range of other activities. You don’t need to focus only on workouts and counting calories. Just plan your day in advance. Bodybuilding is not only workouts, it’s an interesting and eventful way of life.

Q.: Lots of people think, that muscles of bodybuilders are very big, but not that strong, is that true?

Just think about the following thing: any pro lifts tones during their workouts. For instance, I can bench 265 kg (584 lbs). There are pros, who’s barbell squat is 370 kg (814 lbs) for five reps. I suppose, this impresses. So, can’t it be called “strong”?

Q.: You’re right, it seems to characterize a person as strong. Another popular belief regarding bodybuilders is that most of them are impotents. Is that true?

Oh, sure, I was waiting for this question. I want to tell everybody, who has nothing to do with bodybuilding, that this is just a myth developed by some envious or uneducated people. Show me at least one bodybuilding pro, who doesn’t have children. I don’t know such. However I know a lot of people, who are not fond of physical activities and who can’t have children. Being able to impregnate is a genetic predisposition, which has nothing to do with working out in the gym.

Q.: And what about sexual impotence as a side effect of steroids, which are often used by bodybuilders?

This is the fact, that steroid abuse can indeed have such side effects as impotence, but normally they are temporary. Besides, one must be pretty stupid to take that much of steroids to become impotent. If you take steroids once, it doesn’t mean, that you are going to become impotent the next day. You may ask any doctor about this.

Q.: What would you recommend bodybuilders to improve the attitude to them?

I think, that in order to change that negative attitude to bodybuilders we should change ourselves – let’s focus not only on having an attractive body, but also think of your inner beauty. Any myth arises due to the lack of knowledge, including that popular myths about bodybuilders. However every singe athlete can contribute to the way the attitude to bodybuilding in general forms.

This was the opinion of Rolf Hausmann from Germany, just one of you. Please, feel free to add other myths about bodybuilders and bodybuilding and especially to break them in the comments below.

This is an interesting video on the use of anabolic steroids. Every person would react to it their own way. Here’s a quite revolutionary opinion of Adam Nomad, a bodybuilder from Canada, on the topic, shared by him during the interview.

Q.: Mr. Nomad, tell us in brief about yourself, please.

A.: I am 35 years old and I am a very successful business man, who has been working for a large German company for over 15 years. I am product manager and also have a university degree in Marketing Management. I also have my own property development company where I build houses and speculate in the property market. I am married to a wonderful wife and have twin daughters.

Q.: And what about your physical activity? You look like a bodybuilder, do you do anything to enhance your appearance?

A.: I work out in the gym five times a week or more building my body.

Q.: Have you had any experience with anabolic steroids?

Sure I have, all bodybuilders use them. Even those, who name themselves “natural bodybuilders”. It’s like surgery – many go under knife, but nobody confesses.

Q.: But anabolic steroids are known to have pretty tragic side effects, like baldness, breast growth, impotence, to name a few. Have you experienced any of these or other side effects on your body?

A.: This may sound picture perfect, but for now I have had no side effects from taking anabolic steroids and I am a fully functional person and make more than a productive contribution to society and do not harm anyone with my actions and I believe with all my heart, that I am not harming my own health either. I have educated myself regarding the intake of these substances and would challenge most doctors with the knowledge I have built up over the years and my understanding of the specific training regimen I am involved in.

Q.: Do you think, that steroids, which are illegal, should be freely used worldwide?

A.: What I do not understand is why women are free to put silicone breasts (an absolutely foreign substance to the human body) into their bodies to enhance their appearance but men are not allowed to increase their testosterone levels (and that is a hormone that already exists in their body) to do the same. I do not understand, how alcohol could be legal, when it is an absolutely mind altering substance and kills many people every year, but anabolic steroids and growth hormone are not mind altering at all but are perceived as totally taboo subjects. How is this possible and how is this fair?

Q.: How do other people react to your way of life, your point of view?

A.: I am tired of people viewing me and people like me in the light that they do just because they are totally uneducated about the subject. I am tired of feeling like a criminal because my view point is from a group of people that are clearly being misunderstood by the majority.

Q.: How would you comment on the YouTube video about anabolic steroids?

A.: I am tired of the way the media sensationalize the subject every time they talk about it and always have these theories on the side effects of steroids where there are no fundamental truths to their claims. There is not a single study in the world that can prove anabolic steroids to be fatal. This video is just one of the examples regarding the claim I just made. For some reason people do not want to see the truth about anabolic steroids and rather believe the unfound and unsubstantiated theories that are much more sensational than the truth.

Q.: Anabolic steroids are forbidden for athletes to provide fair sporting events, otherwise the world of sport would depend only on the amount of the substances consumed by the athletes. Is that not enough to ban steroids?

A.: I harm nobody by taking anabolic steroids as part of a personal training regimen, I do not advocate the use of anabolic steroids by athletes, who want to gain an unfair advantage or to young children who are not fully developed yet, but I do not see, why the public should treat me like a criminal for my wanting to enhance my physique and appearance by taking these substances.

Q.: What is the way the public treats anabolic steroids, in your opinion?

A.: The vast majority of people in the world are totally uneducated about the subject and have the perception that anabolic steroids are like narcotics. But this is not true. Alcohol, in my opinion, is more like a narcotic, than anabolic steroids, and for exactly that reason I do not drink alcohol at all.

Q.: What would you like to tell the world about anabolic steroids, if you could talk to every single person?

A.: My goal is to try and gain worldwide support from people like me in an attempt to educate the people around us who want to criminalize this kind of training regimen. I feel that people like me, who follow this kind of training regimen, gets victimized and are always misunderstood because the greater part of the society are clueless as to what it is about. I am not a competitive athlete and do not want to achieve an unfair advantage over any other athlete. I am doing this purely for myself and to achieve a certain look I desire, as well as many other bodybuilders do. I’d like to turn to all people and explain them the truth about anabolic steroids, but not that good piece of “unbiased” information in the YouTube video. Not surprisingly, this piece of footage never received much attention from the main stream media. I would be very interested to see, what the world wide response would be on my words and I would even like to sign a petition to approach governments like the US and Australia and get the other side of the story publicized.

This is a point of view on anabolic steroids expressed by Adam Nomad, just one of you. Maybe you don’t agree with him and think, that there’s no place for anabolic steroids in sport and bodybuilding in particular, or, vice versa, you hold absolutely the same view point. Feel free to leave you comments.