Genzebe Dibaba's coach has reportedly been arrested in an anti-doping operation by police ©Getty Images

Jama Aden, coach of the women’s 1500 metres world record holder Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia, has reportedly been arrested by Spanish police as part of an anti-doping operation in Barcelona.

The police operation was carried out in collaboration with the Spanish Anti-Doping Agency (AEPSAD) at a hotel where the Somali coach was staying with his training group.

AEPSAD have confirmed to insidethegames that Aden and a Moroccan physiotherapist were arrested as part of the operation, after the police searched for banned substances in their rooms.

They also revealed that erythropoietin (EPO), was found by the police in the physiotherapist's room.

A total of 25 athletes have been undergone doping tests by the AEPSAD, following the targeted operation by the Spanish police and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

Among Aden’s training group is Dibaba, who has never been implicated in any doping case, the winner of the women’s 1500m gold at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing.

The 25-year-old, who also won bronze in the women’s 5,000m at the Championships, is widely considered the favourite for 1500m gold at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

She successfully defended her women's 3000m title earlier this year at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Portland.

Abubaker Kaki is also a member of Jama Aden's training group
Abubaker Kaki is also a member of Jama Aden's training group ©Getty Images

Dibaba, named female IAAF World Athlete of the Year in 2015, was due to compete in both the Olso and Stockholm Diamond League events this month, but withdraw citing a toe injury.

Djibouti’s Anyaleh Souleiman, the 2014 world indoor men’s 1500m champion, and two-time world indoor 800m gold medallist Abubaker Kaki of Sudan are part of the training group.

Kaki also won silver in the men’s 800m at the 2011 IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea.

Neither Suleiman nor Kaki have been linked with doping.

Any proof of doping within Aden’s training group would come as a major blow to the IAAF, who kept a suspension of the All-Russia Athletic Federation in place after a Task Force determined they had not met criteria required for the sanction to be lifted.

They were initially suspended in November following the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) report of systemic and state-sponsored doping within the athletics team.

It leaves Russian athletes banned from competing at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, although those  "not tainted by the system" could be able to compete independently.