MSA has developed a sample introduction device to obtain a rapid
throughput of samples in order to detect traces of drugs on
exhibits brought to them by HM Customs and Excise and UK Police Forces.
MSA provide a fast turnaround analysis service
for these authorities. In particular,
MSA is concerned with the detection of drugs traces on money, mobile
phones, clothing, cars and premises. Cocaine is found on most banknotes in general circulation. A new sample introduction
device has been designed, built and tested by MSA which analyses
each banknote in a few seconds. Responses from money in general
circulation are then compared in detail with those from confiscated
cash. MSA’s scientific personnel appear as expert witnesses in
court in connection with the evidence obtained from these analyses. By the end of 2002, MSA
scientists had sampled
exhibits in thousands of cases for the UK authorities and had appeared as
expert witnesses in hundreds of court cases.
MSA analyses many other types of
exhibits including mobile phones, vehicles, clothing and premises - using tandem mass
spectrometers for trace analysis and Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry or
Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry for analysis of bulk material.
MSA has also developed a boarding pass analyser (another type of
sample introduction device) suitable for the detection of traces of
a wide range of explosives on aircraft boarding passes. This device
was developed under a number of research contracts awarded by
Transport Canada through the Mass Spectrometer manufacturer
MDS Sciex Inc. of Canada.
MSA has published several papers regarding the techniques
employed and the scientific methodology.
MSA published two papers on
Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry in
2002. IRMS is a different type of analysis used by MSA to determine
whether two or more samples of bulk drugs are from the same batch.
