Kenyan Police declare pharmacist, Kipnasai, suspected of helping athletes dope wanted!

The Daily Nation of Kenya says James Cheruiyot Kipsanai, a Kenyan pharmacist suspected of administering performance-enhancing substances to athletes in the Rift Valley is on the run.

Kipsanai, according to the newspaper, has been on the radar of the Anti-doping Agency of Kenya, Directorate of Criminal Investigations and the Pharmacy and Poisons Board of Kenya since January last year.

Dennis Keitany, a senior compliance officer with the Kenyan anti-doping agency told the Nation that the pharmacist, ‘Kipsanai operated a pharmacy in Iten, Elegeyo Maraket before opening another in Kapsoya, Eldoret, managed to elude detectives who had come to investigate his new pharmacy by locking himself inside before escaping through the ceiling’.

The Daily Nation revealed that Kipsanai was recommended for prosecution by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution on January 8 this year and was directed to present himself before the court in Iten to answer to five charges, including ‘administering prohibited substances to an athlete, contrary to section 42(4) (B) of the Anti-Doping Act No 5 of 2016.

Kipsanai, according to the newspaper, was also charged with being in unlawful possession of a prohibited substance and using an unlicensed premises as a health facility.

He has also been accused of rendering medical services without being registered and licensed and will also face charges of failing to make entries of some drugs like sustanon, used to treat confirmed testosterone deficiency in males.

The daily Nation also reports that Kipsanai would face more charges since he is not allowed to stock erythropoeietin and triamcinolone acenotide.

Just this week, a Kenyan distance runner, Emmanuel Kipchumba Kemboi was banned by the Athletics Integrity Unit for two years for the presence and use of a triamcinolone acetonide.