Border Control & Customs

DrugWipe was designed and built to a specification for German Border Control and the ZKA as a cheap but very reliable, portable instant read out surface test for detecting invisible traces of illegal drugs.

Over a hundred thousand DrugWipes are used each year in Germany alone, testing amongst other things, the handles of brief cases and suitcases of travellers prior to interview. This has shown to be a very effective detection system by improving the selection efficiency of officers to particular travellers.

The mobile teams that patrol other border crossings and perform covert follow up searches find the portability of DrugWipe invaluable and especially appreciate the lack of any need to carry, calibrate or recharge an electronic reader. This lack of reader also reduces capital investment and allows for a much wider spread of availability of the disposable DrugWipes.

In late 2007, DrugWipe found significant acceptance with the French Customs at the Channel Tunnel and other crossing points.

The success of the DrugWipe is down to the fact that it detects invisible traces and focuses further time and resource on more likely and successful hits.

Consider that DrugWipe can be opened and take an overt or covert sample in seconds. The sample can come from a surface, a liquid, a solid or a powder and be particles of a size invisible to the human eye. The addition of water from tap or ampoule then triggers the immunoassay and gives a simple two line read out in minutes. The DrugWipe can then be retained as a formal sample for LCMSMS evaluation as required.

Specific techniques of improved detection from particular testing methods can be discussed with Dtec in a more confidential forum.