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Amphetamines and other stimulants in the same class are the second most widely used illegal drugs abused in Europe today, according to the the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) and Europol. Some 80 % of this class of amphetamine-type drugs is produced in Europe, often in clandestine facilities.
The scale of these operations can be huge. In 2011, five tonnes of amphetamines and just over one tonne of methamphetamines with a street value estimated at over EUR 100 million were confiscated in Europe.
Now research is also helping to detect the illegal labs. The EU-funded MICROMOLE project has designed, developed and tested a prototype drug tracking device that can be installed in sewer pipes.
The device tracks traces of the chemical waste produced during the synthesis of amphetamines and communicates the results to law enforcement agencies in real time.
‘We expect that the MICROMOLE device can make an effective contribution towards the fight against illegal substances production,’ says project coordinator Fernando Solano Donado of the Warsaw University of Technology in Poland.
Autonomous operations
A number of technical challenges needed to be overcome to achieve this. The project, which ends in February 2019, aims to develop the device so it can operate in sewer pipes with diameters as small as 25 cm.
‘It has been a significant technical challenge to design the device with all the necessary electronic components in a small volume, including batteries to allow autonomous operation for at least three days, and not to block the free flow of waste water in the sewer pipe,’ explains Solano.
The project also strives to keep the cost of the device as low as possible by using cheaper off-the-shelf components and optimising them for the harsh environment found in sewage pipes. A key element in the success of the MICROMOLE project is down to the direct involvement of German and Polish law enforcement agencies.
‘Their experience in analysis, detection and prosecution of laboratories is invaluable,’ says Solano.
Having overcome these challenges, the MICROMOLE device can now help to reduce the cost of criminal investigations by obtaining evidence faster and autonomously.
Normally, law enforcement agencies obtain information about clandestine drug laboratories from informants – either witnesses of the production process or criminal investigators, often working undercover, who track controlled substances. This work is expensive, in terms of time and money, difficult and can often be dangerous.
Ideally, the MICROMOLE device will provide solid scientific evidence related to the production of illegal amphetamine-type drugs that can be used in court to convict criminals.
‘We expect that such evidence would not only shorten the time in court prosecutions, but also provide additional information to the court’s jury that can be used to better understand the nature and magnitude of the crime committed, for example, by showing the frequency of production,’ states Solano.
Routes to full commercialisation of the device are currently under discussion. As a bonus, during testing of the device the project team noted that part of the technology developed could also be used to monitor the state of sewage pipe infrastructure or to monitor environmental damage, contamination or hazards relating to sewage.
‘These are areas of increasing research and commercial interest for the project partners and potential customers,’ says Solano.