Two more people have been detained in the French doping case which began Tuesday morning with coordinated stable raids throughout the country, according to the Jour de Galop. In Thursday's edition, the JDG reports that one of the two new individuals was connected to steeplechase trainer Luc Gabeur, and the other in the Ile de France region which encompasses Paris. Two other individuals have been released.
Tuesday morning, raids were carried out throughout the country, with 21 arrested in France, one additional person in Italy and one in Spain. In Thursday's JDG, Piallat confirmed that two veterinarians, Diego Uson of Spain, and Bertrand Franquet were among those detained. The paper said that according to their sources, raids were carried out Tuesday morning at the stables of David Cottin in Lamorlaye, just outside Chantilly, and in La Teste in Luc Gabeur's stables, which were very similar in nature. Workers were asked to wait in the break room, their mobile phones confiscated, while the searches were carried out, the JDG said.
Wednesday morning, the horses returned to training as usual.
“We are trying to establish the roles of one to another, their relationships and their level of responsibility,” Stephane Piallate, the head of the central service of racing and gaming, told the JDG. “Some people have been revealed to probably have a more important role than we thought at the start, serving as some sort of regional relays distributing these doping products. We are at the heart of an important process of identifying and verifying the elements of proof. Working in connection with the expertise of horse racing laboratories, we are waiting for the results of the analyses.”
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