Prosecutor told of spiked water
The state food authority yesterday confirmed that traces of a psychiatric drug have been found in water allegedly offered to opponents by an Athens first-division soccer club. The Hellenic Food Authority (EFET) said it was forwarding the laboratory results, conducted by Athens University, to a prosecutor, calling the administering of haloperidol – a depressant used to treat schizophrenia and paranoia – to unsuspecting athletes «a criminal act.» Iraklis Thessaloniki has claimed that its players were handed bottles of spiked water by Akratitos officials before their late April away defeat at the Athens club’s Ano Liosia ground. This reportedly followed warnings by other clubs that there was something fishy about Akratitos’s water. An EFET statement said 23 micrograms of haloperidol per milliliter of water had been found in a 1.5-liter water bottle handed by Iraklis officials to the Ano Liosia police station. The plastic bottle contained a tiny hole. Akratitos, which ended the championship 14th out of 16 teams and was demoted, denies any wrongdoing.
