Illegal anabolic steroids smuggled in by fitness instructor seized
The Customs Authority’s drug unit identified 42 packages all coming from the same address in Bulgaria.
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICHUpdated: JULY 30, 2015 02:22Illegal anabolic steroids (photo credit: COURTESY HAIFA CUSTOMS OFFICE)
A fitness instructor from the North has been arrested on suspicion that he imported 45,000 anabolic steroid pills illegally.The 27-year-old Karmiel resident was released by the Haifa Magistrate’s Court after his arrest for taking possession of the pills. The import, marketing, distribution and use of anabolic steroids are outlawed.The Customs Authority’s drug unit identified 42 packages addressed to a number of residents in Karmiel, Acre and Haifa, including the suspect, Alexander Bolyevsky, who runs a personal-trainer company called Sasha Time. All the packages had come from a single address in Bulgaria.Investigators from the Health Ministry’s pharmaceutical crime unit accompanied customs inspectors to the suspect’s home. In Bolyevsky’s residence, they found a large amount of cash as well as documents that seemed to connect him to the importing of the drugs. Bolyevsky admitted to having imported the steroids and said that he had asked friends and acquaintances for their addresses to send the packages to before collecting the entire shipment himself.It was a technique he had used before to obtain anabolic steroids that he then sold for a high profit.Two years ago, the suspect’s father, Ivan Bolyevsky, also of Karmiel, was arrested when he tried to smuggle 18,000 counterfeit anabolic steroid pills through Ben-Gurion Airport, which were impounded by customs officials. His luggage contained only the pills.In a related matter, the Knesset Labor, Social Welfare and Health Committee on Tuesday added kiosk drugs to the list of those outlawed.The legislation bans both the substances themselves as well as the chemical “drug families” they belong to. The list of newly banned substances includes dichloromethylphenidate, methoxetamine and acytelfentanyl – which can also be used as date rape drugs.Manufacturers of illegal synthetic drugs regularly change their chemical composition in order to circumvent legislation.In a letter sent by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to committee head MK Eli Alalouf, the premier asked to include the drugs in the list of dangerous and illegal drugs.
“They are psychoactive, and their use endangers the public,” he said. Alalouf promised that the committee would deal with the issue urgently.Health Ministry pharmaceutical crime unit director Mickey Arieli said that in the past year, 40 websites that sell “kiosk drugs” were closed down and that most sales today are carried out via Facebook and WhatsApp.