Chapter 03 of 5
Raid at the Apartment
The Spanish Civil Guard uncovers the 200 blood bags of Operation Puerto.
- The Raid
May 2006
Spanish Civil Guard units simultaneously stormed five locations across Madrid and Zaragoza. This was the moment Operation Puerto transitioned from a theory to a massive criminal case.
- Ground Zero
Apartment 4A
The primary discovery occurred in a nondescript apartment on Madrid’s Calle Caídos de la División Azul. Inside, investigators found the nerve center of a global doping empire.
- Cold Storage
The Blood Frigidaires
Officers opened high-end medical freezers to find rows of plasma and red blood cell bags. It looked less like an apartment and more like a high-volume hospital blood bank.
17 more cards in this chapter
Could you answer this?
What unusual method helped investigators link specific blood bags to famous athletes?
💉 Operation Puerto: The Blood Bag Empire
- 01The Oxygen EdgeThe biological mechanics of autologous blood doping in elite cycling.
- 02The Madrid LaboratoryInside Eufemiano Fuentes' secret clinic and his 'miracle' protocols.
- 03Raid at the ApartmentThe Spanish Civil Guard uncovers the 200 blood bags of Operation Puerto.
- 04Code Names and Cover-upsDecoding the identities of 'Birillo,' 'Piti,' and the sports superstars.
- 05The Biological PassportHow the Puerto scandal revolutionized modern anti-doping surveillance.