February 27, 2019 (Seefeld, AUT) – Austrian Federal Police have reported five elite athletes and four others have been arrested during doping raids at the International Ski Federation (FIS) Nordic Skiing World Championships in Austria.

Austrian police confirmed at a press conference that 16 total properties had been raided across both Austria and Germany to detain individuals working in “a doping network operating worldwide”.

“In the morning hours of 27 February 2019, in a coordinated action in Seefeld and in Germany, a total of nine people were arrested and 16 house searches executed by orders of the Attorney General Munich and the STA Innsbruck,” according to a Police statement.

“In the course of a coordinated intervention in the presence of the German public prosecutor and German investigators, two members of the criminal group and five top athletes were arrested in Seefeld on the basis of orders granted by the court, and house searches were carried out.”

“The Erfurt-based criminal group is strongly suspected of having carried out blood doping on elite athletes for years to increase their performance in national and international competitions and thereby to gain illegal income,” said the Police.

At the Nordic Skiing World Championships in Seefeld, police report that two Austrian athletes were arrested along with one competitor from Kazakhstan and two from Estonia.

“Among the detainees are also two police athletes from the national squad cross country/national team, who are currently undergoing basic police training,” reads the statement.

Austrian Federal Police’s Dieter Csefan said in comments reported by the Austria Press Agency that one athlete was allegedly caught “in the act” as police report that he was “picked up with a blood transfusion in his arm.”

Two other individuals were detained in raids happening in Erfurt Germany, one of whom being a doctor with reported links to doping in cycling.

The Police identified the individuals as “40-year-old sports physician Dr. med. Mark S. and another 40-year-old German accomplice”

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) released statement in response to the event, saying that they are aware of the raids and are in “close communication with law enforcement authorities”.

“The raids were part of a wider police operation targeting criminals from a number of European countries, and WADA’s Intelligence and Investigations Department has been providing information and other assistance to the authorities in the course of their operation,” a spokesperson said.

This is not the first time that Austrian skiers have been accused of doping, as six Austrian athletes from Biathlon and cross-country were banned from the Olympics in 2007.