The illegal drug trade continues to increase and the need for analysis of drug seizures is growing at the National Laboratory of Forensic Science (SKL) in Linköping, Sweden. SKL is now investing in new technology from UmBio, based in Umeå, Sweden, to cut analysis time in half.

SKL is at the international forefront of forensic analysis and is always looking for new tools to streamline its analysis process. Such analyses are an important part of criminal investigations and there is a big need for fast and reliable analysis to help combat criminal activity.

SKL has now signed an agreement with UmBio worth 4 million SEK. The agreement includes new equipment for drug analysis that is expected to cut analysis time of large seizures in half.

“Our technology has primarily been used for quality assurance of food, but the same technology can analyse all organic materials, such as drugs or food supplements”, says UmBio’s CEO Stefan Nordin.

The technology can quickly identify a bag of cocaine hidden among flour bags

Drugs in powder form are often smuggled in batches with other products (for example flour), while drugs in tablet form are often mixed with legal drugs or health products.

The mobile UmBio Inspector system shows the chemical content of organic materials in real-time through advanced image analysis. The seized drugs are placed on a conveyor belt and pass under a scanning camera, which records the chemical composition of each square millimeter of the sample. As the UmBio Inspector scans the content of for example a powder, the analysis of the chemical content is generated instantaneously as the information is gathered.

After the fast screening, continued identification analysis can be performed by other techniques. SKL will primarily use UmBio Inspector to distinguish, or connect different seizures of drugs, but there are also future opportunities for additional applications in forensic science.

For more information:
Stefan Nordin
CEO UmBio AB
+46 (0) 70 374 57 94
stefan.nordin @ umbio.com