WADA Intelligence and Investigations conference in India updated on success of ‘Operation Upstream’

Today, WADA President Witold Bańka, members of WADA’s Intelligence and Investigations (I&I) Department, and the Asia/Oceania office, were in New Delhi, India, for the final conference of the expansion phase of its Global Anti-Doping Intelligence and Investigations Network (GAIIN) in Asia and Oceania.     

WADA’s one-day wrap-up meeting was hosted by India’s National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA), in partnership with India’s Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and INTERPOL, and brought together representatives of law enforcement agencies and National Anti-Doping Organizations (NADOs) from 23 countries in Europe and 45 countries across the Asia/Oceania region.  

Mr. Bańka said: “The Global Anti-Doping Intelligence and Investigations Network initiative has already been a remarkable success with around 250 operations currently ongoing around the world. So far, 88 illicit laboratories have been dismantled and almost 90 tons of performance-enhancing drugs have been seized by the authorities. This represents 1.8 billion doses of drugs prevented from reaching the global market. These are extraordinary achievements, and they confirm that our intelligence-led, partnership-based approach is having the desired effect.  

“I want to thank our colleagues in governments, Anti-Doping Organizations and law enforcement around the world, including INTERPOL and Europol, for their wholehearted commitment to this project. Anti-doping is a team sport and WADA cannot do it alone. We rely on the collaboration of many organizations and individuals, including athletes, to make progress and to ensure a level playing field for all competitors.” 

See GAIIN Project video below: 

Today's conference in New Delhi followed a series of six operational workshops held throughout the region (two in Thailand, two in India and one each in Australia and Saudi Arabia), all designed to bring together NADOs and law enforcement to identify opportunities for collaboration and to focus on a number of important I&I topics, including:  

• Intelligence functions and investigative techniques;   
• Confidential source management;   
• Open-source research; and   
• Analytical and interviewing methods.    

In total, 51 nations from across Asia and Oceania participated in this phase of the project. 

The conference received an update on the outcomes of this latest phase of the GAIIN project, particularly as it related to the far-reaching and ongoing ‘Operation Upstream’ investigation. This large-scale international investigation has so far involved more than 20 countries and led to the seizure of several tons of performance-enhancing drugs, coordinated by WADA, INTERPOL, and Europol, in what has been a highly complex, trans-continental investigation.  

See Operation Upstream video here: 

WADA Director, Intelligence and Investigations, Günter Younger, said: “Across the world, a hidden supply chain has been fueling the illicit market for performance-enhancing drugs. Since March 2022, when WADA initiated the Global Anti-Doping Intelligence and Investigations Network project, we have been hitting back at the criminal gangs that are threatening the health of athletes and the integrity of sport.  

“With our ‘Operation Upstream’ partners, we have focused on powerful kingpin suppliers in Asia as well as their customers across continents, to shut down this global pipeline and the risks it poses. Targeting the manufacture and trafficking of performance-enhancing drugs has enabled us to remove these dangerous substances from circulation and bring charges against the perpetrators. This operation has been successful in its own right, but it is also now leading to spin-off investigations as fresh intelligence emerges and further evidence is gathered.” 

Acting Director of INTERPOL's Financial Crime and Anti-Corruption Centre, Nick Court, said: “The fight against doping requires a unified global response. By combining law enforcement capabilities with the expertise of anti-doping authorities, we are strengthening our collective ability to disrupt the production and trafficking of performance-enhancing substances.  

“INTERPOL remains committed to supporting coordinated, intelligence-driven actions that protect both public health and the integrity of sport worldwide. The results from ‘Operation Upstream’ prove that targeted operations can disrupt the supply chains feeding the illicit performance-enhancing drug market.” 

The expansion of GAIIN stems from the success of the I&I Capability and Capacity Building project in Europe that was carried out from 2022-2024.  The next phase will take place in the Americas in 2026-2027, and will conclude in Africa in 2028-2029. The International Standard for Intelligence and Investigations will come into effect on 1 January 2027.