Moynihan pushing for drug deterrent

He sees it as a "necessary" weapon to clamp down on drugs suppliers and cheats in the run-up to the London 2012 Games.

Lord Moynihan, who has spent the festive break fine-tuning the draft Bill seeking to strengthen anti-doping measures, is also calling for international cooperation on intelligence- gathering to be made a priority.

His Bill seeks to bolster police search powers so they can not just look for illegal substances but also performance-enhancing drugs.

Lord Moynihan said: "That would mean that if someone was blood doping at the Olympic Village in 2012 they (the police) would have the right under law to search the premises under a warrant.

"It is not that uncommon in Games. It has happened at the Winter Olympics. If athletes know that could happen we are going to deter people from cheating and doing themselves harm.

"It is important that it should be on the statute book."

The 2006 Turin Winter Olympics were overshadowed by raids on the Austrian biathlon and cross-country teams by the Italian police, who had received a tip-off from Games officials.

Several doping-related products were discovered.

Similar raids have been deployed on the continent and to catch doping Tour de France riders.

Reasonable grounds would be needed to get a warrant.

Lord Moynihan said: "At the moment they do not have the ability to search unless it is for prohibited substances, like heroine, and not performance-enhancing drugs.

"This is to extend it to performance-enhancing drugs so that would be all the drugs on the Wada (World Anti-Doping Agency) list."

It would criminalise the supply chain to athletes for the first time bringing Britain in line with countries such as France, Italy and Belgium who have a similar stance on drugs in sport.