STONY BROOK, NY. (PRWEB) April 29, 2014 -- Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (OTCQB: APDN), (Twitter: @APDN), a biotech firm that provides DNA-based authentication and security solutions and services, announced today that its anti-theft platform based on SigNature® DNA, has played an important role in the conviction of 88 malicious criminals in the United Kingdom, jailing these gang members for a total of 448 years.
An estimated $40,000 in stolen cash from three separate robberies is being returned to an APDN customer, a major armored car and cash transportation company. All the cash was marked by SigNature DNA and recovered from criminals by police. APDN forensically linked the cash to specific robberies thus providing police with clear evidence to help convict the criminals and also enable the cash to be returned to its legal owner.
On November 18, a law enforcement official in Liverpool revealed that the convicted criminals used guns, machetes, and crowbars in their robberies; their victims "ranging from middle aged security guards--forced to quit their job out of fear--to school children," according to the official. (Source: Gary Stewart, Liverpool Echo). http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/armed-robbery-gang-who-targeted-6316202
“All these victims are probably scarred for life. All probably are now looking behind them when they hear footsteps," the official added.
SigNature DNA is deployed in strong boxes used to transport cash and other valuables to and from banks. When the boxes are opened improperly, the cash, and often the criminal himself, is marked with DNA, linking him directly to the crime, and leading in many cases to court convictions.
Tony Benson, Managing Director, EMEA, for Applied DNA Sciences, commented, "We are proud to be part of the effort to punish and deter these vicious criminals, protect the banks and transport companies and their employees, and return stolen cash to our customers. This demonstrates a clear return on investment in our SigNature DNA platform in both peoples' safety and in financial terms."
APDN's SigNature DNA-based platform has significantly expanded in Europe during the last year. It is used in Sweden to protect cash and valuables in transit for the Swedish transport company Nokas, AS. It is distributed in Poland by the security company Centralne Biuro Zabezpieczen (CBZ) and is used to protect ATMs and teller stations widely in Europe.
In areas where SigNature DNA is used by law enforcement, there has been a 75% reduction in attacks and cash losses to theft. One officer in the United Kingdom, Kent Police Detective Constable Paul Walker stated: “Our operations make use of a wide variety of the most efficient policing techniques and technologies. Products based on SigNature DNA have been among our most effective tools.”
About Applied DNA Sciences
APDN is a provider of botanical-DNA based security and authentication 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. SigNature® DNA describes the uncopyable marker that is at the heart of all of our security and authentication solutions. SigNature DNA is at the core of a family of products such as DNAnet®, our anti-theft product, SigNature T®, targeted toward textiles, and digitalDNA®, providing powerful track and trace. All provide a forensic chain of evidence and can be used to prosecute perpetrators.
The statements made by APDN may be forward-looking in nature. 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 20, 2013 and our subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. 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.
