'Operation Cyber Juice' Shuts Down Underground Steroid Labs Across US

Agents with the Unites States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have arrested more than 90 people in a series of raids on illegal steroid labs across 20 states, it was announced Tuesday.

The bust, dubbed "Operation Cyber Juice," took place over nearly five months and involved more than 30 investigations, the Justice Department said in a statement Tuesday.

During the blitz targeting 16 labs, the DEA seized more than 1,400 pounds of raw steroid powder and 2,200 gallons of injectable steroid liquid.

"These products are commonly obtained via the internet from Chinese chemical manufacturing companies and underground labs," the statement said.

Authorities also found $2 million in cash and other assets, according to the statement.

"Too many young people are ruining their lives and damaging their bodies from steroid use," DEA acting administrator Chuck Rosenberg said. "Through Operation Cyber Juice, DEA is attacking the global underground steroid market, exposing its dangers and lies."

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DEA spokesman Rusty Payne told VICE News last July that Chinese pharmaceutical factories are "synthesizing a new drug every day."

The FDA regulates prescription Human Growth Hormone (HGH), and its law enforcement division also cracks down on illegal HGH sales. In 2010, the agency busted Chinese drug manufacturer GeneScience Pharmaceutical for illegally smuggling and marketing HGH in the US, forcing the company to pay $7.5 million in fines. Since then, there have been several other large-scale convictions for HGH distribution.

"When you have thousands of chemical manufacturing companies in China making huge amounts of steroids and HGH, and you can jump online and get that stuff mailed to you, that's a difficult thing to manage and regulate," Payne said.