STONY BROOK, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. ( NASDAQ: APDN, “Applied DNA”), today announced that SigNature® DNA evidence has helped to convict a member of an Irish organized crime group involved in a Cash in Transit (CiT) robbery.
The robbery in question took place in February 2016. A G4S cash-in-transit guard was approached by two criminals, one brandishing a firearm and the other a knife. The criminals escaped with a stolen cash box in a car driven by Lee Harris, another member of the robbery team. Harris, a 21-year-old male from Dublin, dropped off the criminals at the crime scene earlier that day and kept lookout for police while the robbery took place. Later that evening, Harris was stopped at a police checkpoint for driving erratically and was subsequently arrested for drunk driving.
€2,850 in blue/green ink-stained bank notes were found on Lee Harris and the following day he was charged with armed robbery.
Police contacted Applied DNA to request forensic examination of bank notes. Within a week, Applied DNA laboratories analyzed samples and returned an expert witness report to police, forensically linking the stained bank notes to the specific cash box stolen during the armed robbery.
Evidence from the expert witness report was used to secure a conviction against Lee Harris in December 2017. Lawyers acting on behalf of Harris said he was caught “green-blue handed” with bank notes that were stained with the security ink containing a SigNature DNA tag, and he was sentenced to 4 years in prison.
“This is the first criminal conviction in Ireland secured using SigNature DNA evidence, and should act as a warning to any other criminals who may be considering a cash-in-transit attack. Our ever-increasing tally has now reached 115 criminals convicted for 545 years of jail time,” commented Tony Benson, Applied DNA’s Managing Director for EMEA.
“Also, this demonstrates the fantastic service provided by Applied DNA and in particular our forensic laboratory team who analyze these bank note samples quickly, which is often the subject of special praise,” commented Dr. James Hayward, president and CEO of Applied DNA.
About Applied DNA Sciences
Applied DNA is a provider of molecular technologies that enable supply chain security, anti-counterfeiting and anti-theft technology, product genotyping and DNA mass production for diagnostics and therapeutics.
We make life real and safe by providing innovative, molecular-based technology solutions and services that can help protect products, brands, entire supply chains, and intellectual property of companies, governments and consumers from theft, counterfeiting, fraud and diversion. The proprietary DNA-based “CertainT®” platform can be used to identify, tag, test, and track products, to help assure authenticity, origin, traceability, sustainability and quality of products.
SigNature® DNA describes the core technology ingredient that is at the heart of a family of uncopyable, security and authentication solutions such as SigNature® T and fiberTyping®, targeted toward textiles and apparel, BackTrac™ and DNAnet®, for anti-theft and loss prevention, and digitalDNA®, providing powerful track-and-trace. All provide a forensic chain of evidence, and can be used to prosecute perpetrators. Applied DNA Sciences is also engaged in the large-scale production of specific DNA sequences using the polymerase chain reaction.
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The Company’s common stock is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol APDN, and its warrants are listed under the symbol APDNW.
Forward Looking Statements
The statements made by APDN in this press release may be “forward-looking” in nature within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements describe APDN’s future plans, projections, strategies and expectations, and are based on assumptions and involve a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of APDN. Actual results could differ materially from those projected due to our short operating history, limited financial resources, limited market acceptance, market competition and various other factors detailed from time to time in APDN’s SEC reports and filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on December 28, 2017, which is available at www.sec.gov. APDN undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date hereof to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, unless otherwise required by law.
