A smuggling ring in Australia has been busted for importing illegal steroids into the country disguised as gay sex lubricant. Customs officials seized more than 150 bottles of the fake “gay lube oil” across Australia. The seized product contained testosterone and Deca Durabolin (an injectable steroid), among other ingredients.
As the 2008 Beijing Olympics draw near, customs officials in Australia say they have seen a sharp rise in the smuggling of steroids into the country, according to ABC News. In the latest incident, customs officials seized more than 150 bottles of steroids disguised in sex lubricant bottles in raids across Australia from Victoria to New South Wales to Queensland.
Smugglers disguised the illegal liquid steroids in colorful bottles labeled “Gay Lube Oil”. The bottles were sent to Australia from Thailand and were first identified as fake products by customs in early 2008. Authorities reportedly became suspicious of the product when the lube suddenly spiked in popularity across Australia.
Although disguising the smuggled substance as gay sex lubricant was an unusual tactic, it is common practice for smugglers to hide materials behind inaccurate labeling in an attempt to sneak past customs.
"This is the latest in a growing number of attempts to beat Customs controls on these types of drugs with Customs successfully prosecuting many such cases in recent times," Customs National Manager of Investigations Richard Janeczko said, according to Australia.to. "Despite the professionalism of this smuggling operation, Customs officers were not fooled by the labeling and its misdescription.”
Janeczko stated such steroids could not be brought into the country without a permit from the Therapeutic Goods Administration, according to Australia.to. He theorized that smugglers had chosen to disguise the liquid steroids as lubricant in the hopes that customs officials would not want to examine the product too closely.
“We found that we weren’t dealing with an oil at all,” Janeczko told LiveNews. “I think that they’re going for the presumption that Customs won’t examine the goods, mainly because we may actually think it’s gay lube oil… They might think we won’t examine it because… it’s a bit yucky or whatever.”
Thirty separate investigations are now underway into the smuggling of the steroids. Prosecuted offenders involved in the smuggling could face up to five years in jail and/or a $110,000 fine.
