Dubai Police invent new solution to identify closely-related male suspects or victims in criminal cases
Chemical can discriminate between similar genetic fingerprints of male relatives
Dubai: Dubai Police scientists have invented a new way to identify if a crime suspect or victim in a mishap is a closely-related male.
They have developed a chemical product to identify a genetic fingerprint of closely related male individuals. The has 99 per cent accuracy in solving genetic fingerprints found in crime scenes such as rape, missing people, as well as identifying victims of natural disasters.
Lieutentant General Abdullah Khalifa Al Merri, Commander-In-Chief of Dubai Police, said the invention is the first of its kind in the world, achieved by a scientific team at the General Department of Forensic Sciences and Criminology Department at Dubai Police.
“It’s an outstanding achievement that will help to solve crimes, particularly sex crimes. Dubai Police experts developed their skills to invent a product that will help to solve complicated crimes using the latest technologies,” Lt Gen Al Merri had said on the sidelines of the World Police Summit at Expo 2020 Dubai.
Lieutenant Abdullah Al Bestaki, a DNA and biological expert in Dubai Police, said Dubai Police have secured the intellectual property right for the new product (26 RM Yplex II) from the World Intellectual Property Organisation.
“The male genetic fingerprint has a great value in criminology. It is hard to discriminate closely-related suspects. We studied the challenge and found solutions by discrimination 26 loci and create a formula of liquids,” said Al Bestaki.
In genetics, a locus (plural loci) is a specific, fixed position on a chromosome where a particular gene or genetic marker is located.
Solving a common problem
“Usually in sexual assault cases, the female sample overpowers the male sample. The examiner can get the genetic fingerprint but will face another problem, which is to discriminate the genetic fingerprint in related male individuals as there is an almost identical genetic male fingerprint in related male individuals,” he added.
He said the new product by Dubai Police solves this problem in sexual assault cases or proof of parentage.
“The product can also be used to identify victims in natural disasters or accidents as well as to know if the victim is father, son or any direct relatives.”
The new genetic fingerprint is considered to be the most powerful in the world and was featured in a scientific journal.
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‘Perfect formula’
Experts Afraa Al Reyami from Dubai Police said the Dubai Police team include eight young experts from different sections in the department. They managed to reach the “perfect formula” after six months of studies.
“Our lab buys such kind of liquids from private companies but as we worked in the field, we knew the importance of developing a formula to discriminate between males in one family. We used the new liquid on previous cases and the results were very promising,” said Al Reyami.