".....The Chinese steroid powder suppliers and American underground laboratories became blatant in advertising and selling through password-protected Web sites, anonymous e-mail services and secretive financial transactions. Surveillance and federal subpoenas scooped up all those avenues of information, the investigators said.
In February, officials for the D.E.A. and the Food and Drug Administration traveled to Beijing to tell their counterparts about the flood of different steroid powders coming from China. They wanted to give the Chinese ample time to fix the problem before the 2008 Olympics, the investigators said. Within a week, the Chinese government posted a new list of chemicals that were illegal to export.
That helped dry up the supply to underground laboratories for a while and accelerated the evidence gathering against dealers who thought they could "wait out the storm," the investigators said.
Operation Raw Deal was brought home with an international takedown date in 27 states and 9 foreign countries.
Federal authorities have given the Chinese government their dossiers on 37 companies involved in the steroid trade. "Hitting China we hope will have more impact than anything we have done domestically," one of the investigators said.
Web sites that advertised steroid powder are still under investigation. Robertson said the largest distributors would be targeted.
Federal agents are also trying to identify tens of thousands of buyers through shipping, financial and e-mail records and say they plan to pursue many of them. ..... "
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Originally Posted by ndixon1517
