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Dog medicine doc lands year’s jail time

A Spanish doctor who reportedly gave drugs for dogs, cattle and horses to a team of cyclists was sentenced to a year behind bars by a Madrid court on Tuesday.

Dog medicine doc lands year’s jail time
Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes arriving at a court house in Madrid in February. Photo: Dani Pozo/AFP

Doctor Eufemiano Fuentes was found guilty of endangering public health by administering blood transfusions to top cyclists who formed part of the Spanish cycling team Kelme.

A former trainer of the Kelme cycling team, Jose Ignacio Labarta, was also found guilty and handed a four-month jail term. 

Three other co-accused in the case — Yolanda Fuentes, Manolo Saiz and Vicente Belda — were cleared.

Back in February, former Kelme cyclist Jesus Manzano told the Madrid court his health had been compromised by performance enhancing drugs for animals given to him during his time with Kelme.

Manzano recalled one occasion when he fainted during a stage of the Tour de France in 2003:

"I had taken oxyglobin intravenously, a haemoglobin for dogs (which increases oxygen levels in the blood)," Manzano said during evidence. 

"I attacked (French rider) Richard Virenque on a stage and I began to feel progressively worse until I fainted. In the team they asked me to not say what I had taken nor to do a test because it was in France and we would all go to jail."

Manzano also went on to describe the lengths Fuentes and his team went to in order to prevent their riders from testing positive. 

"They put a white powder on the penis to dilute the urine sample so that we didn't test positive for EPO," he said.

“Eufemiano Fuentes would arrive in his Porsche stacked full of blood bags and then put them into wine cartons before going to the Tour,” Manzano added. 

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Meet the German airport dog sniffing out huge bundles of cash

Money talks, they say, but for some, money also smells.

Meet the German airport dog sniffing out huge bundles of cash
Here's an archive photo of Aki with some of her cash finds. Photo: DPA

Aki, a nine-year old Belgian Shepherd dog based at Frankfurt's international airport in Germany, sniffed out almost a quarter of million euros in cash from travellers in a few days.

Between the end of June and the start of July, Aki caught 12 passengers carrying a total of €247,280 ($290,540), according to the airport's customs office.

In one incident, the nosy mutt sniffed out almost €52,000 in the belt bag of a passenger.

Other cash was found in handbags, shoulder bags and inside jacket pockets.

“With her keen nose, Aki supports the custom officers… in the fight against tax evasion, money laundering and international terrorism,” said Isabell Gillmann, spokeswoman at the customs office in Frankfurt, Germany's business capital.

READ ALSO: Customs dog sniffs out €1.2 million in cash at Düsseldorf airport

All 12 travellers could face fines.

In 2019, customs officials in Frankfurt caught passengers carrying a total of around €23.6 million in undeclared cash.

According to EU laws in place since 2007, if passengers enter or leave the EU with €10,000 or more in cash, they must declare it and its origins to Customs.

These regulations are in place to help investigators detect any illegal activity involving high volumes of cash, such as drug trafficking or money laundering.

Corona dogs?

German sniffer dogs may also be put to use in the battle against coronavirus.

Researchers from Hanover's University of Veterinary Medicine found in July that man's best friend could detect Covid-19 in human samples, suggesting that in future they could be deployed in transport centres or sporting events.

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