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Man makes £7k a week making and selling potentially lethal substance
IN a dingy garage draped with plastic dust sheets, an amateur “chemist” cooks up a potentially lethal cocktail of steroids.
Wearing a protective mask and suit, Keiran’s underground set-up is similar to that of Breaking Bad character Walter White.
But while terminal cancer-sufferer White produced crystal meth to secure his family’s financial future in the hit US TV series, Keiran is illegally making injectable Testosterone Propionate — and pocketing THOUSANDS of Pounds a week.
He tells The Sun: “It’s not rocket science.”
The “’roid” wholesaler distributes his product through secret Facebook groups to “regular guys who want a boost in the gym”.
But trained pharmacists last night warned the backstreet lab is “a disaster waiting to happen”.
Our investigation came after Made In Chelsea’s Spencer Matthews was kicked off ITV reality show I’m A Celebrity after confessing to a secret steroid addiction.
He said “vanity” led him to bulk up for a charity boxing match, but he admitted: “I intended to come off the pills gradually but there was no time before I reached the jungle.”
It is illegal to sell or distribute anabolic steroids but using and possessing them is not against the law.
A gym owner tipped us off about Midlands dealer Keiran, who spoke to us on the condition his real name was not used.
He claims his syndicate clears as much as £7,000 a week from illegal sales of the class C drug.
We watch as the 30-year-old prepares an injectable liquid batch of the steroid he calls Test Prop from powder.
He weighs out the powder, sourced from China via a middle man, on lab scales before dissolving it in an oil.
Next he adds chemicals benzyl benzoate and benzyl alcohol and heats the formula on a hot plate.
He claims the chemical process will kill any bacteria.
Benzyl benzoate is used to treat lice and scabies and Keiran’s bottle is labelled with instructions to treat Sweet Itch, a condition in horses caused by an allergic reaction to midges.
Keiran says his home-brew steroid is then filtered twice before being sold in bulk to others, who transfer it into branded 10ml vials.
He boasts his product is the real deal, saying: “This trade is all about reputation and word of mouth. If people use something and it’s no good, people on the internet say, ‘Don’t use it’.
“It’s like any business, if you don’t keep your reputation good no one’s going to buy it.
“If you were selling it individually in a gym it’d be anything from £35 to £50 for a 10ml vial. If you sell 100 at a time it goes as cheap as £12 a vial.”
Unsurprisingly, Keiran has no formal pharmaceutical training. He explains: “I was at a gym selling steroids for this guy in Birmingham. I learned to make the stuff watching him.
“I make a living out of this. There’s no limit to the quantity we can make.
“After New Year we always have a big boost because everyone wants to get in shape.
“But we’re a small fish in the ocean. The guy who taught me makes £70,000 to £80,000 a month. It’s a bigger operation.”
Keiran justifies his “business” by insisting steroids are different to recreational drugs. He says: “You don’t get high off taking it so I don’t class it as a drug.
“No one’s mugging old ladies to buy it. Users are regular people who just want a boost down the gym. I’m not making anyone take it.”
Pharmacist Martin Davies, 56, runs a needle exchange for steroid users in Newport, South Wales.
Visibly alarmed at our evidence, he warned: “He’s got all this garb on but none of this is sterile at all.
“He’s getting the stuff from China and God knows what’s in it. He wouldn’t know himself.
“All he’s done is dissolve powder, like adding sugar to water, then added this bactericide to guarantee sterility. That guarantee is rubbish.”
The physical side-effects of steroid use include a higher risk of heart attack, stroke and prostate cancer. Mentally, it can lead to mood swings, paranoia and so-called “roid rage”.
The HIV infection rate among users has reached 1.5 per cent, as high as for those injecting drugs such as heroin. Infection rates for hepatitis B and C — blood-borne viruses which attack the liver — are growing.
Yet steroid use among image-conscious men is soaring.
Professor Julien Baker, who has studied steroid abuse for 20 years, last night called for possession of the drugs without a doctor’s prescription to be made illegal.
The 59-year-old, from the University of the West of Scotland, said: “Steroids need to be reclassified as class B at the very least. It should be a criminal offence to possess it because organised crime has got hold of it now. Police are more interested in heroin and cocaine dealers.”
Underground labs in Walsall, Manchester and St Asaph, North Wales, have been raided this year, with cash, steroids and equipment seized.
In October, a dealer from Cheltenham, Gloucs, was jailed for three years after his “Steroids R Us” online business was busted.
Carl Dix, 27, admitted supplying steroids and possessing his girlfriend’s stun gun. He had £21,000 seized from his home and bank account.
The Crime Survey for England and Wales says just under 60,000 people a year take steroids. But Prof Baker insisted that was “a big underestimate” adding: “There are needle exchanges in Cardiff and Glasgow which have seen a 600 per cent increase for steroid users over ten years. The real figure is in the hundreds of thousands.”
One steroid user — a muscular 26-year-old from Leamington Spa, Warks, who didn’t want to be named — tells us: “The steroid doesn’t give you the high, it’s the difference you see in the gym that does.
“It’s what you’re trying to chase. You get bigger, stronger, girls are like ‘Oh, wow’.” The user, who works as a plasterer, spends around £1,200 a month on injectable steroids. He adds: “It’s in the back of your mind that it’s made in underground labs but I haven’t experienced side-effects so it doesn’t really worry me.
“In any properly kitted-out bodybuilding gym I would say 80 per cent of the people are taking steroids. Everyone compares brands.”
One gym trainer said young men are turning to steroids to match the muscular physiques of media role models such as reality star Spencer.
Boxing coach Adrian Bush, 50, who trains youngsters at Clearys Gym in Leamington Spa, added: “You can buy it in gyms where meatheads go. But users are gambling with their health.
“Anyone who comes into our gym on that crap is not welcome.”
ANABOLIC steroids are class C drugs to be sold only by pharmacists with a doctor’s prescription.
There are between 60 and 100 different types, which can be injected or taken as tablets.
It is legal to possess or import steroids as long as they are for personal use, drugs advice service Frank says.
However, those wishing to import or export steroids for personal use must be physically present to carry them. Using postal, courier or freight services is against the law.
Possession or importing with intent to supply (which includes giving them to friends) could lead to 14 years in prison and an unlimited fine.
INJECTING testosterone to build muscle bulk can lead to hair loss, shrunken testicles, low sperm count, high blood pressure and an increased risk of prostate cancer, writes Sun Doctor CAROL COOPER.
Testosterone is also linked with aggressive behaviour and mood swings.
And that is with the pure, properly produced drug.
When it is made illegally, in a set-up like the one highlighted by The Sun, there is no guarantee the product is free from impurities.
Injecting anything that isn’t sterile risks life-threatening complications including heart infections and septicaemia (blood poisoning or sepsis).
Counterfeit drugs can also contain whatever else has been brewed in the lab.
They could be buying and injecting themselves with almost anything.
The Breaking Bad chemist who sells illegal steroids on Facebook from a Midlands garage
IN a dingy garage draped with plastic dust sheets, an amateur “chemist” cooks up a potentially lethal cocktail of steroids.
Wearing a protective mask and suit, Keiran’s underground set-up is similar to that of Breaking Bad character Walter White.
But while terminal cancer-sufferer White produced crystal meth to secure his family’s financial future in the hit US TV series, Keiran is illegally making injectable Testosterone Propionate — and pocketing THOUSANDS of Pounds a week.
He tells The Sun: “It’s not rocket science.”
The “’roid” wholesaler distributes his product through secret Facebook groups to “regular guys who want a boost in the gym”.
But trained pharmacists last night warned the backstreet lab is “a disaster waiting to happen”.
Our investigation came after Made In Chelsea’s Spencer Matthews was kicked off ITV reality show I’m A Celebrity after confessing to a secret steroid addiction.
He said “vanity” led him to bulk up for a charity boxing match, but he admitted: “I intended to come off the pills gradually but there was no time before I reached the jungle.”
It is illegal to sell or distribute anabolic steroids but using and possessing them is not against the law.
A gym owner tipped us off about Midlands dealer Keiran, who spoke to us on the condition his real name was not used.
He claims his syndicate clears as much as £7,000 a week from illegal sales of the class C drug.
We watch as the 30-year-old prepares an injectable liquid batch of the steroid he calls Test Prop from powder.
He weighs out the powder, sourced from China via a middle man, on lab scales before dissolving it in an oil.
Next he adds chemicals benzyl benzoate and benzyl alcohol and heats the formula on a hot plate.
He claims the chemical process will kill any bacteria.
Benzyl benzoate is used to treat lice and scabies and Keiran’s bottle is labelled with instructions to treat Sweet Itch, a condition in horses caused by an allergic reaction to midges.
Keiran says his home-brew steroid is then filtered twice before being sold in bulk to others, who transfer it into branded 10ml vials.
He boasts his product is the real deal, saying: “This trade is all about reputation and word of mouth. If people use something and it’s no good, people on the internet say, ‘Don’t use it’.
“It’s like any business, if you don’t keep your reputation good no one’s going to buy it.
“If you were selling it individually in a gym it’d be anything from £35 to £50 for a 10ml vial. If you sell 100 at a time it goes as cheap as £12 a vial.”
Unsurprisingly, Keiran has no formal pharmaceutical training. He explains: “I was at a gym selling steroids for this guy in Birmingham. I learned to make the stuff watching him.
“I make a living out of this. There’s no limit to the quantity we can make.
“After New Year we always have a big boost because everyone wants to get in shape.
“But we’re a small fish in the ocean. The guy who taught me makes £70,000 to £80,000 a month. It’s a bigger operation.”
Keiran justifies his “business” by insisting steroids are different to recreational drugs. He says: “You don’t get high off taking it so I don’t class it as a drug.
“No one’s mugging old ladies to buy it. Users are regular people who just want a boost down the gym. I’m not making anyone take it.”
Pharmacist Martin Davies, 56, runs a needle exchange for steroid users in Newport, South Wales.
Visibly alarmed at our evidence, he warned: “He’s got all this garb on but none of this is sterile at all.
“He’s getting the stuff from China and God knows what’s in it. He wouldn’t know himself.
“All he’s done is dissolve powder, like adding sugar to water, then added this bactericide to guarantee sterility. That guarantee is rubbish.”
The physical side-effects of steroid use include a higher risk of heart attack, stroke and prostate cancer. Mentally, it can lead to mood swings, paranoia and so-called “roid rage”.
The HIV infection rate among users has reached 1.5 per cent, as high as for those injecting drugs such as heroin. Infection rates for hepatitis B and C — blood-borne viruses which attack the liver — are growing.
Yet steroid use among image-conscious men is soaring.
Professor Julien Baker, who has studied steroid abuse for 20 years, last night called for possession of the drugs without a doctor’s prescription to be made illegal.
The 59-year-old, from the University of the West of Scotland, said: “Steroids need to be reclassified as class B at the very least. It should be a criminal offence to possess it because organised crime has got hold of it now. Police are more interested in heroin and cocaine dealers.”
Underground labs in Walsall, Manchester and St Asaph, North Wales, have been raided this year, with cash, steroids and equipment seized.
In October, a dealer from Cheltenham, Gloucs, was jailed for three years after his “Steroids R Us” online business was busted.
Carl Dix, 27, admitted supplying steroids and possessing his girlfriend’s stun gun. He had £21,000 seized from his home and bank account.
The Crime Survey for England and Wales says just under 60,000 people a year take steroids. But Prof Baker insisted that was “a big underestimate” adding: “There are needle exchanges in Cardiff and Glasgow which have seen a 600 per cent increase for steroid users over ten years. The real figure is in the hundreds of thousands.”
One steroid user — a muscular 26-year-old from Leamington Spa, Warks, who didn’t want to be named — tells us: “The steroid doesn’t give you the high, it’s the difference you see in the gym that does.
“It’s what you’re trying to chase. You get bigger, stronger, girls are like ‘Oh, wow’.” The user, who works as a plasterer, spends around £1,200 a month on injectable steroids. He adds: “It’s in the back of your mind that it’s made in underground labs but I haven’t experienced side-effects so it doesn’t really worry me.
“In any properly kitted-out bodybuilding gym I would say 80 per cent of the people are taking steroids. Everyone compares brands.”
One gym trainer said young men are turning to steroids to match the muscular physiques of media role models such as reality star Spencer.
Boxing coach Adrian Bush, 50, who trains youngsters at Clearys Gym in Leamington Spa, added: “You can buy it in gyms where meatheads go. But users are gambling with their health.
“Anyone who comes into our gym on that crap is not welcome.”
ANABOLIC steroids are class C drugs to be sold only by pharmacists with a doctor’s prescription.
There are between 60 and 100 different types, which can be injected or taken as tablets.
It is legal to possess or import steroids as long as they are for personal use, drugs advice service Frank says.
However, those wishing to import or export steroids for personal use must be physically present to carry them. Using postal, courier or freight services is against the law.
Possession or importing with intent to supply (which includes giving them to friends) could lead to 14 years in prison and an unlimited fine.
INJECTING testosterone to build muscle bulk can lead to hair loss, shrunken testicles, low sperm count, high blood pressure and an increased risk of prostate cancer, writes Sun Doctor CAROL COOPER.
Testosterone is also linked with aggressive behaviour and mood swings.
And that is with the pure, properly produced drug.
When it is made illegally, in a set-up like the one highlighted by The Sun, there is no guarantee the product is free from impurities.
Injecting anything that isn’t sterile risks life-threatening complications including heart infections and septicaemia (blood poisoning or sepsis).
Counterfeit drugs can also contain whatever else has been brewed in the lab.
They could be buying and injecting themselves with almost anything.
The Breaking Bad chemist who sells illegal steroids on Facebook from a Midlands garage