My Bangkok Anabolic Steroids Story

Many people come to Thailand looking for women, sex, a nice holiday, etc. This is a well known fact. Others come here looking for work, teaching English etc. However I came here to buy anabolic steroids for personal use and smuggle them back into Australia. After doing it once, I did it again and kept on doing it. I knew nothing about Thai culture or this country. All I knew from research was that it was legal and easy to buy steroids in this country. Now I'll tell my story.

I started weight training at age 19. I'm 39 now. Back when I was young it was real easy to obtain real pharmaceutical steroids, Human Growth hormone and vet steroids in Australia.

However this has all changed. Doctors are now not allowed to prescribe these hormones for anyone wanting to increase muscle or strength and there is strong, negative, incorrect, unconfirmed, false information which has the public believing these drugs are very dangerous. This is the same in many other countries. These negative stories started in the U.S.A and have been picked up by the press in most Western countries, except England.

This has made it very difficult to get real legit steroids. Seeing as Australia is a landmass not connected to any other country, these hormones have to be smuggled through the post, on people coming back from overseas or bought on the black market. Most of the gear is fake, poor quality, expensive and it might not be what it says on the label.

I was sick to death of training my guts out and not getting the results I wanted so I decided to come to Bangkok to stock up on steroids when I was 33 years old. I stayed at the Novotel on Suhkumvit Soi 33. I checked in late at night, went out, saw a supermarket with a pharmacy in the back and I could see she had Androil testosterone caps. I started asking what else they had and she said that was all. So I bought some of these even though they're not good for strength and weight gains. I was just happy to have some gear.

I woke up the next day and my mission was to enter every pharmacy I could and find these hormones. I also had a book with a list of all the brands and drug names. I started walking from Soi 33, going further up as the numbers of the sois got higher. I should have gone the other way towards Nana and around Soi 11 but I knew nothing then…

I went in that direction and many pharmacies sold none except the Androil caps which I had already bought. These are used for testosterone replacement and I did want anymore of these, in fact I should never have bought them in the first place.

After walking in the bloody heat with a backpack and a water bottle I went into one pharmacy which was empty. This old guy came out and I asked if he could you get any of these. I pulled out the book and he was laughing and going through the list then he pointed at the book and said I can get this, "Oxymetholone". I felt great then he said he could also get "Methandienone". I felt like I had won the lottery. These are the two most powerful oral steroids available! I said I want for 5 bottles of Anadrol (Oxymetholone) and 1 bottle of Anabol (methandienone) which come in a 1,000 tab container. He said I would have to come back in a few hours to collect them as they were not there in stock. I said OK and just as I was about to walk out the door I said do you sell Diazepam, better known by the brand name Valium. He nodded his head and came out with a 1,000 tab container. I was shocked at the amount and cheap price so I said give me another one and I'll see you in a few hours.

I went back maybe 4 hours later and he had all my gear. I went back to my hotel and very excited I placed all the gear on a desk in front of me and just stared at it all. It was beautiful, however there was a problem… I had no injectables!

Anyway, the next day a pharmacy just around the corner said she could get Sustanon 250 and Deca 100 made by Organon. I bought maybe 50 amps of each. I was then satisfied and said that's enough. I stayed in Bangkok for two more days then went back to Australia. I stuck all the gear in my back bag. Nothing was hidden, I went through the X-ray and nobody said anything so I had made it.

I really liked Bangkok and wanted to go back, not just for more steroids but to experience the place. The steroids I brought through were great strength and weight gains and were incredible. Everyone was shocked at what they did to me and I felt great.

I went back Bangkok maybe 9 months later for 12 weeks and bought more gear and smuggled it back to Australia. When going through the X-ray machine, the man said what's this pointing at the screen. A woman came straight over and asked if it was my bag. I said yes. She opened it and pulled out what he was pointing at and she said it's just a container of vitamin E cream and she walked away. He was still staring at the screen looking confused so I grabbed my bag and walked off. It was a close call as I had all types of steroids in my bag. I knew from that moment on I would get busted if I kept doing this so I needed a new approach.

From the time I spent in Thailand I found one pharmacy who had it all and I could buy every steroid know to man at this place for a good price. My new way was to transfer the steroids, oils from the vials and amps into new sterile glass bottles. I would buy a 500 ml glass bottle of Glucosamine in Australia at the supermarket and when in Bangkok I would buy a bottle of cough medicine and fill both about 80% full to make them look like they had been used.

Customs could never catch me this way. I had my bag opened for inspection and they had no idea the bottles contain something else and they can't swab test these either like narcotics. It's very time consuming and expensive to detect steroids so they could only seize them let me go then weeks or months later I would be in trouble.

Friends and people at the gym kept asking me for gear so I would make money back by selling them the oils in 10 ml twist top vials. These people knew and trusted me. Not many people are going to buy steroids in a 10ml glass vial with no label.

10ml of test would sell on the Australian black market for around $250 – $400 or $50 an amp – that's just 1ml of oil so I would sell them for $150.

I could buy 10 ml of test back then for around 800 baht. An amp would cost around 70 -120 baht depending on the brand.

One problem was the tabs were still risky to bring through so I use to put the tabs in my carry on luggage. I would not hide them from Thai Customs but would not show then either.

Around 1.5 hours before landing I would go into the toilet and open the containers, place the tabs in plastic sachets and place them flat in my shoes. These were DBOL 20mg tabs which are very durable. Believe it or not, no bullshit, I could fit 1,500 tabs in each shoe (Converse). They did not stand out and only about 10% of the tabs would get crushed. I do have arched feet. Another thing I would do about an hour before landing is take a heavy dose of diazepam (Valium) which made me very calm and relaxed so I would walk through Customs at Sydney Airport relaxed, very calm and alert. I did not look wasted. I was reading in California they give Diazepam to inmates on death row to help them walk to their execution.

I was always told to wear black and don't make yourself look big. Anyway, I passed through Sydney Immigration and as you walk down the stairs there are about 15 Customs officers standing there having a really good look at everybody coming down the stairs. It's freaky, even someone I know who was coming through with nothing told me he had come to the stairs, looked at them all and gave them a stupid look then went to get his bag. I never looked at them and just walked down the stairs waiting to collect my luggage. It was hot once so I decided to take off my jacket and as soon as I grab my bag a customers officer came up to me and asked me, "Do you take steroids?"

I was shocked and said yes I've taken plenty but I don't have any with me.

He said this declaration form you filled out and you have none of these in your bags.

I said that's correct, so he starts inspecting my luggage and asking questions at the same time.

So where do you work? I work in sales for three different companies.

What companies?

I gave the names which were real.

So what countries have you been to?

Well, I stayed in Thailand.

So why are you hands shaking?!

I said nothing. It was a trick and they were not shaking! So what do you like about Thailand?

"Pussy!"

OK mate, do you have anything in your pockets?

No, alright, mate, walk straight down there and turn left.

That was they way out of Customs. I had a bottle of cough medicine in the bag full of Deca and around 400ml of Sustanon 250 in the bottle of gluocosmine and 3,000 tabs down my shoes. It was a close call.

I kept on doing this. I would also declare Viagra and antibiotics which any Customs officer will let you go through with no prescription. Sometimes they would say OK and I would walk straight out, no inspection or X-ray. One time I just walked straight through and they never X-rayed or inspected my luggage. If only I had known before! However, if you declare drugs that are hard to get on prescription or not well known the Customs officer will pass you on to someone else and they will ask questions and search your luggage.

During my time in Thailand I fell in love and got married to a Thai woman. I was going to bring her to Australia but ran into problems and I could not get her into the country. I looked into finding work in Thailand but it was not possible. Teaching English was out of the question as I left school at age 14. I had enough money to open a business which can't be less than 1 million baht plus all the people you need to employ etc and getting ripped off and hearing from people if you can't do it in your country then don't even thing about Thailand. I think I would have lost my money and my life would have been ruined.

A Russian bloke from the gym said you need around $5,000 U.S dollars. You can run a small business and pay off those you need to pay off. I looked into everything but nothing seemed good.

In the past I imported paper steroids from Pattaya to Australia. The steroids are soaked inside the paper – very clever – and they even made their own steroid oils which I once imported. It made it through Australian Customs even though the packaging was very crude.

So I was at a stage in life where I needed to take a gamble. My wife was is in Bangkok and I wanted to live there because I loved her and I really liked Thailand.

My plan was to open a steroid site. I was confused with what to do at first. It is legal in England to import steroids online for personal use and there are many sites that just sell to England. These sites offer credit cards, even provide bank account details etc. and you'll have no problems with the law because the English will never complain to Thailand about these sites as most of the sites are in Thailand and they send stock to England so often people can get it online. However, because it's legal for them to import it's a very difficult market you need low prices and easy payment options and then you can do well.

So I decided something different and 100% illegal. I can't say the name of the site but my site explains how it can defeat X-ray and inspection in certain ways so people living in countries with strict Customs take note of this and often email asking questions.

So I came to Bangkok and had around 600,000 baht in a Thai account and around $40,000 in Australia. The Aussie dollar has been worth more than the US dollar for more than two years now so this is great for me.

The site went online and at first the product rage only had one Chinese company and amps from Germany. I thought I would be lucky to get 3 or 4 orders a month. Two weeks passed and I received my first email from someone in New York who wanted free samples. I declined. Then I received an email from a Lebanese guy in Sydney, Australia, asking me if I could get some certain hormones. I said yes. Then he wanted my number. I refused and said only email. Two days had passed so I wrote him an email informing him I was from Australia and if he gave me his number I'd call. I called and we spoke for a while about how it could get through. I received funds through Western Union using a Thai person to collect the money in their name. It got through and even defeated inspection. Then he made a few more orders and they got through too! Then he told his mates and they all started making orders. I said forget Western Union, I have an Australian bank account so place the money in there. This payment option is untraceable, free and easy. I was making around $800 a month from just one customer and a few of his mates. He wanted tabs but I had no concept so he just kept on buying the oils.

Then there was a seizure. Customs decided to seize and test the contents. He believed his address was flagged and started to make orders to other addresses and I started looking for better concepts.

After searching through Thai markets and stores where there are no farangs, there are all types of interesting things I discovered. A certain product which was f@#$en brilliant and could add other items with it. Then I had an idea with tabs sending them in hidden inside something I was aware about. It was crude at first but in the end it was too good to be true.

I told my supplier I had opened a site and was selling online and he looked at me and said in a very serious way. Don't sell to America as the US DEA are in Bangkok and they will come after you! It's also a reason many pharmacies don't stock steroids now from the pressure the US has put on the Thai government.

I took this advice and the site says WE DON'T SHIP TO THE USA! Anyway, after the site had been online for a while it develops a reputation through forums, mouth to mouth, and I have some free advertising on two sites because I bring them customers.

I shipped around 7 orders to the USA with no seizures and the emails started pouring in with around 95% from Australia. I did not target Australia or direct traffic there but the fact is Australia is without question the number one importer of illegal steroids in the world. I control the site and no-one works for me. I make on average around $15,000 AUD a month. I get about $22,000 but I have to buy the gear and pay for packaging and shipping which the customer pays for. All the gear is legit, nothing is underground, most is FDA approved and many companies have authentication codes which are passed on to the customer so they can confirm the gear is legit on the company website. It will inform them if the codes have been used before and will even take pics of the products before sent because they're transferred into different packaging and I won't say what.

The key to my success is to defeat Customs, sell people real quality gear, have long term repeat customers and having a real easy payment option which generates much more business. This can only be offered to trusted customers.

It's a violation of PayPal to buy or sell pharmaceuticals of any type even if they're legal to import. If you just write a drug or brand name in their description field the network will find it in two shakes of a lamb's tail and they will terminate both accounts forever. They can see your IP address but I don't need to worry as I have the most sophisticated proxy money can buy which shows a fake IP and location. I can also bypass anything that is blocked online.

However I don't use PayPal. Last month I made $22,000 AUD cash in hand. The biggest ever was $36,000 in a 4 – 6 week period. Almost none of the money is in Thailand. It's transferred to let's say something like a Swiss bank account.

There was a big steroid bust in Pattaya around 2.5 years ago. Of course it was the US DEA who went after them along with the Thai police. It was a group of Brits who made big bucks! They were importing the raw steroid powder from China and making their own gear which would save a lot of cash. The leader had 4 houses, 7 motorcycles, millions of baht in different Thai accounts. He made two mistakes – selling to the USA and having his money in Thailand. All this money was made by the proceeds of crime so he lost all his houses, motorcycles, money in Thai accounts etc. Now he is in prison in the USA not Thailand! He was a good person and even donated money to charity. I only read about all this and spoke to a girl in Koh Chang who came out of the blue and started talking about it.

I think I'm a bloody fluke to have done so well. There is not any question I can't answer about steroids. If I do forget, I have books written by steroid experts, books you can't buy at your local book store.

I bought my wife a house 100% in her name. I also have a home gym which is the best ever! I gave her the money under the table so if I get busted and the house is 49% mine they will take the house away and she does not help with the site.

I think if I can get around 1.5 million saved in the 4-5 years I'll pull the plug. Nothing good lasts forever and there's no need to be greed. I could get busted but keeping away from the USA is a good move.

If you're looking to buy steroids in Bangkok they might not be as easy to find as you think. If you type Anabolic Steroids into Google and look at Wikipedia it will say that steroids are legal to buy in Thailand. However this is lacking information. Steroids re legal to buy only if they are FDA approved.

Looking for steroids around 5 years ago was easy in the tourist areas and all the independent pharmacies around Nana and Asoke sold a lot but had a poor range. This has all changed and now there are only two pharmacies between Sukhumvit Soi 4 and Soi 15 and both sell FDA approved anabolic steroids. As soon as you walk in the stores you will see them on display. Another place I know is in Silom Road where they set up markets every night. It's also where the ping-pong ball show is. These places sell legal FDA approved anabolic steroids – I will not inform people where to find gear that is not legal.

Many people buy steroids in Pattaya. This is a well known fact. However, I have little knowledge of the city and won't provide any info except you should find them pretty easy. As for other places like Phuket, I have no idea.

My advice to anyone using steroids or who wants to buy steroids is that Thailand is great and many people come over for months on holidays to bulk up on these hormones and go back home feeling great! I see it all the time.

Valium and Zanax are not legal for sale in pharmacies in Thailand, however seeing there is a strong demand for these drugs and profit to be made they can be found. However, all the Valium (Diazepam) I have seen is underground. It's real and some is better than others. Some are fake. I did buy and bring back 2,000 tabs to Australia as I mentioned before, however I can see online from a well known international law firm in Thailand from their website a list of illegal drugs like different narcotics etc. Valium and Zanax are on this list and it explains these drugs have an effect on the mind, Stronger doses need to be taken to get the same effect and when you stop people go through withdrawal systems. It is not taken as seriously as heroin or yaba but if you get busted with these the punishment is up to 5 years in jail. So if you do buy the drugs in Thailand, don't buy or carry too many. If you really need them, go to a hospital and ask for a prescription and that way you'll be fine.

Human Growth Hormone (HGH) is not legal to buy at pharmacies. It's all smuggled in from China. Unigen makes HGH and it was available at pharmacies around 4 or 5 years ago. I never used it but was told the quality was fantastic. I don't know why it disappeared but it's a big disappointment. Unigen still make it and it's on their website however they do everything by the book.

I hope this explains enough and will help some people out.

Stickman's thoughts:

For sure, a most interesting submission on a topic never before touched on here.

Let me say that while I do NOT have any medical training nor pretend to have any medical or pharmaceutical knowledge, people who do tell me that steroid use comes with a myriad of health problems and the more you use and / or the longer you use it, the worse these effects are. And I can tell you straight up that having seen some in Thailand who use them heavily, they look bloody awful to me. I'm not talking people who look big, but who have deformed features which I am told is a direct consequence of using a high quantity of steroids. While I respect others to do what they wish with their own body, I cannot imagine why anyone would want to look like one of these disfigured characters, almost like a gorilla out of a cartoon.

OK, that aside, my understanding – and I could have this wrong – is that these drugs are not illegal in Thailand although they are not supposed to be sold with a prescription.

I hear stories of Pattaya being a centre for the type of operation you are running with some foreigners exporting them around the world. I imagine that Customs in Western countries are pretty good and I am surprised they would get through as easily as you suggest. Having seen the Australian Customs show on TV I was impressed and they seem to be clued up and very good at intercepting this contraband. I'd imagine people would get pretty pissed off when they pay money to buy this stuff but end up getting a knock on the door!

Finally, some readers may remember the outfit British Dragon. To those who don't, British Dragon was a couple of Brits doing exactly as this writer, procuring steroids in Thailand and selling them online to buyers all around the world. Apparently their enterprise was highly profitable. Anyway, the Americans got involved and they were arrested and extradited to the States where they're now behind bars! The story can be found here.
Nasty business indeed.

I think the lesson to be learned is that you've got away with this for a while already and while the temptation might be there to keep it going and try and make enough money to set yourself up for life, the odds are high that it won't last. You'd be best advised to quit now and find something that is perhaps less profitable, but which is above aboard.