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Asafa Powell's hotel room raided by Italian police, with a stash of pills and medicine found
Italian police have reportedly discovered a stash of unidentified pills and medicines in the hotel room of Asafa Powell, the Jamaican sprinter accused of doping.
Statement: Asafa Powell, 30, has insisted that he never knowingly took banned substances Photo: AFP
By Nick Squires, in Rome2:42PM BST 15 Jul 2013
Carabinieri officers searched Powell’s hotel room overnight, a day after it emerged that he had tested positive for a banned stimulant, oxilofrine, at the Jamaican championships last month.
Powell and other Jamaican athletes have been training in the area, part of the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region which abuts the border of Slovenia.
Police from a specialist drug and food safety unit found around 50 boxes and vials containing medicines and pills, according to Italian press reports.
“For the moment there have been no arrests,” a police source told the Italian press.
The Jamaican runner was staying in the hotel, “Fra I Pini” or “Among the Pines” in the coastal resort town of Lignano Sabbiadoro.
The searches were carried out after requests from WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Police were “surprised” at the quantity of drugs they found in the hotel room because it was “disproportionate” to the needs of one athlete, the Ansa news agency reported.
The drugs were sent to police laboratories for testing and identification.
If shown to be banned substances, they could prove to be “the smoking gun” in the doping scandal, Ansa said.
“The Jamaican squad has chosen the training facilities at Lignano Sabbiadoro for years and has always shown great appreciation for the town,” said the mayor, Luca Fanotto.
Powell, 30, has insisted that he never knowingly took banned substances. "I am not now – nor have I ever been – a cheat," he posted on Twitter.
He has called for an investigation as to how the oxilofrine could have entered his system.
Italian police have reportedly discovered a stash of unidentified pills and medicines in the hotel room of Asafa Powell, the Jamaican sprinter accused of doping.
Statement: Asafa Powell, 30, has insisted that he never knowingly took banned substances Photo: AFP
By Nick Squires, in Rome2:42PM BST 15 Jul 2013
Carabinieri officers searched Powell’s hotel room overnight, a day after it emerged that he had tested positive for a banned stimulant, oxilofrine, at the Jamaican championships last month.
Powell and other Jamaican athletes have been training in the area, part of the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia region which abuts the border of Slovenia.
Police from a specialist drug and food safety unit found around 50 boxes and vials containing medicines and pills, according to Italian press reports.
“For the moment there have been no arrests,” a police source told the Italian press.
The Jamaican runner was staying in the hotel, “Fra I Pini” or “Among the Pines” in the coastal resort town of Lignano Sabbiadoro.
The searches were carried out after requests from WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency.
Police were “surprised” at the quantity of drugs they found in the hotel room because it was “disproportionate” to the needs of one athlete, the Ansa news agency reported.
The drugs were sent to police laboratories for testing and identification.
If shown to be banned substances, they could prove to be “the smoking gun” in the doping scandal, Ansa said.
“The Jamaican squad has chosen the training facilities at Lignano Sabbiadoro for years and has always shown great appreciation for the town,” said the mayor, Luca Fanotto.
Powell, 30, has insisted that he never knowingly took banned substances. "I am not now – nor have I ever been – a cheat," he posted on Twitter.
He has called for an investigation as to how the oxilofrine could have entered his system.
Paul Marin -19 is one thing, 20 is a whole other matter. It gets even worse if they win the UCL. *groan*. 
05/18/2011.MU fans naah cough, but all a unuh a vomit?-Lazie 1/11/2015
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