NCJ Number
217655
Journal
Journal of Forensic Sciences Volume: 52 Issue: 2 Dated: March 2007 Pages: 389-392
Date Published
March 2007
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Based on the assumption that epithelial (skin) cells from drug traffickers might be trapped during the sealing process for heat-sealed plastic bags of heroin, this Israeli study examined the possibility of extracting and profiling DNA from the burned edge of the plastic wrap.
Abstract
The study found sufficient quantities of DNA deposited at the "amorphic" (without precisely defined shape) burned edges of sealed street doses of heroin for DNA profiling. "Square-like" burned edges, on the other hand, did not yield DNA profiles, probably because of differences in the sealing process. The study also found that DNA could be recovered from the plastic wrap itself. Since heroin dealers and users are often involved in other crimes, the extraction of their DNA from plastic drug bags and the addition of their DNA profiles to the recently established DNA database in Israel provides a new option in the investigation of crime and drug trafficking. The study used randomly selected plastic wrappers that contained heroin street doses seized between 2001 and 2005. Two types of burned edges of the packages were observed, "square-like" and "amorphic," depending on the method used by the drug trafficker in handling and sealing the drug packages. In the first phase of the study, burned edges of both types of packages were cut from 35 plastic wrappers for DNA typing. In the study's second phase, a known donor sealed clean plastic bags that were heated to the melting point and then pressed with the donor's fingers. DNA analysis was then performed from two areas of each of nine packages, i.e., the burned plastic edge and the plastic area of the package. The study's third phase conducted DNA analyses of nine additional heroin packages from various actual cases ("amorphic" type packages only). 4 figures and 6 references