Millar was dining in a restaurant with Dave Brailsford in Bidart, near Biarritz, on 23 June 2004 when he was approached by three plainclothes policemen of the Paris drug squad at 8.25pm. They detained Millar and took his watch, shoelaces, jewellery, keys and phone. After searching his home two and a half hours they found empty phials of Eprex, a brand of the blood-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO), and two used syringes. Millar claimed he had been given them as a gift at the Tour of Spain, and that he had taken them to Manchester and used them there. After that he had kept them as a souvenir. The detectives took Millar into custody.