Sassari «When they rang the doorbell, a few minutes before five in the morning on Wednesday, my partner and I were scared. Five carabinieri entered our apartment and, like in a movie, told us not to move. Only when they explained to us that they were looking for anabolics, the blood started flowing in my veins again and I breathed a sigh of relief, because they are substances that I don’t use and which in fact were not found either in my home or in my gym.”
Francesco Moretti, 52 years old from Sassari, physiotherapist and personal trainer, has worked all his life in the world of city gyms, where he is well known. For a few years he has been managing the “Ludus”, an open space, two rooms for martial arts and windows overlooking the top floor of the La Piazzetta shopping center in Sassari. Together with his partner he ended up among the 24 people investigated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Sassari for trafficking of anabolics and narcotic substances in gyms, which on Wednesday morning led to the arrest of two people (for possession of marijuana) and to home and personal searches carried out by Nas carabinieri in Sassari, Nuoro, Turin and Genoa.
«The only things that were seized during the search at my house – continues Moretti – are two drugs that were prescribed to me by the doctor, due to an auto immune disease which are used for pain and for which my lawyer, the ‘lawyer Carlo Ermini, is already preparing the request for release from seizure, to which we will attach the request and the doctor’s prescriptions.” After the long house search, the raid continued in Predda Niedda inside the gym. «They asked me to accompany them – explains the physiotherapist – and even in this case they didn’t find what they were looking for». At the same time, other soldiers showed up at the home of the other suspects (21 men, one of whom is a carabiniere and three women) and at the Spartan Fitness gym also in Predda Niedda, but also in this case no anabolics were found.
The Carabinieri of the NAS of Sassari took part in the operation, which took place in the provinces of Sassari, Nuoro, Turin and Genoa – supported in the execution phase – by those of the respective Provincial Commands, by the NAS of Cagliari, Turin and Genoa, by the CC Helicopter Squadron “Hunters” of Sardinia and by the Abbasanta dog unit, with the overall use of over 100 soldiers from the force. «I don’t know why my name ended up in this investigation – he explains Francesco Moretti – but I imagine that the reason is linked to the belief that there may be illicit trafficking in gyms, but we work honestly and do not allow that type of substances.”
During the searches, the Nas actually found something illicit. In the homes of some of the suspects – all known in the local world of bodybuilding – 4,700 tablets and 120 vials of doping substances were seized. These include “Trenbolone”, a steroid used in the past by veterinarians to increase muscle growth and appetite in animals, as well as various testosterone-based drugs and syringes for taking anabolics. The prosecutor’s hypothesis is that there was trafficking that also involved other athletes. The investigation is only just beginning and the Nas could go knocking on the doors of other gyms in the province.
