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Associated Press

April 22, 2008

Australian Customs has confirmed that more than 300 shipments of steroids were intercepted in the first three months of the year, well up on previous years.

The hike comes with the Beijing Olympic Games looming in August and follows a similar increase before the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA) chief executive Richard Ings said the organisation works closely with customs and is notified of any involvement by Australian athletes in importing performance-enhancing drugs.

"If customs are indicating that they are seeing an increase in seizures, there is no suggestion those products were bound for athletes," he told AAP.

Mr Ings said any information about imported steroids linked to athletes was communicated to ASADA, which then conducted its own investigations.

"The holes in the net are getting much, much smaller now through this co-operative approach," he said.

The investigations manager for Customs Australia, Richard Janezcko, told ABC Television yesterday that the vast majority of steroids coming into the country are not intended for athletes.

"People who want to look good or are involved in all sorts of sporting activities like bodybuilding or ... weightlifting might do it," he said.

"A lot of people in gyms use it.

"There's a lot more dealing and trading so we believe that it's come out of an image culture as much as the Olympic culture."

Nathan Allen, winner of last year's Stawell Gift sprint, was last month arrested and charged for importing steroids days before the 2008 event.