Illegal steroid smuggling ring: HC orders FRRO to refrain from coercive action against Alpha Pharma CEO

Mumbai: In a landmark ruling, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday directed the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) not to take coercive action against Danish national Jacob Sporon-Fiedler, CEO of Alpha Pharma, an India-based pharmaceutical company.

Sporon-Fiedler, convicted in the United Kingdom in 2019 of operating an illegal steroid distribution network, had approached the court seeking the revocation of his Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to fight.

The vacation bench, comprising Justice Arif Doctor and Justice Somashekhar Sunderesan, heard Sporon-Fiedler’s plea seeking relief against the MHA order. Sporon-Fiedler, 43, was convicted alongside former bodybuilding champion Nathan Selcon, with both found guilty of importing steroids into Britain. Their activities involved an Indian pharmaceutical company that supplied approximately four tons of anabolic steroids to Europe every month.

The British conviction followed an extensive investigation that began after authorities seized 600kg of anabolic steroids worth £65 million (approximately ₹74 crore) at London’s Heathrow Airport in 2014. In 2019, Sporon-Fiedler and Selcon pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import steroids, leading to Sporon-Fiedler’s prison sentence of five years and four months.

Lawyer Zal Andhyarujina, who represents Sporon-Fiedler, argued that his client has had OCI status since 2017 and heads a company employing more than 232 people in India. In addition, Sporon-Fiedler is married to an Indian citizen and lives in India with his family, including a child who also lives here. Andhyarujina alleged that canceling the OCI card without a proper hearing would cause “great prejudice” to Sporon-Fiedler, especially since he has filed a review petition against the MHA order.

DP Singh, representing the MHA, defended the ministry’s decision and highlighted Sporon-Fiedler’s conviction and subsequent prison sentence in Britain.

However, the court extended the protection to Sporon-Fiedler and emphasized the need for a fair trial. “Given that Sporon-Fiedler has been an OCI card holder since 2017, the conviction that led to the revocation of the OCI dates back to 2018 and his sentence was commuted to 23 months, which he completed in 2021, it would be appropriate and in the interest of justice for the Ministry of Home Affairs to hear and dispose of the review petition,” the court said.