Police arrest chemist doping suspect in Eldoret
Anti-Doping Agency of Kenya CEO, Japhter Rugut, accompanied by officials from the Pharmacy and Poisons Board and Criminal Investigations Department, addresses the press outside a chemist in Eldoret town during a raid on April 14, 2018. PHOTO | JARED NYATAYA |
What you need to know:
- The suspect, who runs a chemist in Eldoret, is said to have injected an athlete who led the investigators to the premises.
A man has been arrested on suspicion of dealing with banned performance enhancing substances.
Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) in collaboration with Anti Doping Agency of Kenya (Adak) and the Pharmacists and Poisons Board (PPB) on Saturday apprehended the man in Eldoret on suspicion of injecting athletes with Erythropoietin (EPO).
The suspect, who runs a chemist in Eldoret, is said to have injected an athlete who led the investigators to the premises.
According to Adak CEO Japhter Rugut, the man has been under investigation by the Agency for committing an Anti Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) contrary to sections 42 (2) and 42 (4) of the Anti-Doping Act.
Rugut said that they were still investigating the matter and the man would be arraigned in court once the investigations are complete.
“This is a major problem in our country. We will continue with the fight and make sure the sport is clean,” said Rugut.
He further said that the athlete, by his own admission after testing positive, led the investigations to the premises where he obtained the substance in Eldoret.
Rugut said there were other cases they were following up and once investigations were complete they would let the law take its course.
“There are several leads we are following. We will do thorough investigations,” he said.
He urged the athletes to stick to the Kenya Doctors Network for guidance on taking the right medication.
If found guilty, the suspected man could attract jail sentence of three years or a fine of Sh3 million.
Dennis Otieno, who is the pharmaceutical inspector, said their mandate was to protect the health of a person by doing rigorous tests on drugs in the market.
