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Applied DNA Sciences Plays Key Role in U.K. Conviction of Armed Robber

2015-02-13 05:30 ET - News Release

STONY BROOK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 02/13/15

Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: APDN), (Twitter: @APDN), a provider of DNA-based anti-counterfeiting technology, supply chain and product authentication solutions, announced that SigNature® DNA has helped the UK West Midlands Police track down an armed robber after the victim likened him to an actor from a popular British television series.

On July 26, 2014, Usman Ali threatened a Loomis driver with a hammer outside a Wickes home improvement store and stole a cash box containing around £14,000 (approximately $21,500 USD). What he did not know was that the cash box also contained a dye embedded with SigNature DNA, enabling police to link the stolen cash to the individual cash box.

The following day, staff at Ladbrokes, a gambling parlour near Ali's home, reported a man feeding hundreds of pounds into gaming machines -- eagle-eyed employees noticed that these notes were stained with dye. Officers were summoned and immediately recognized Ali as the man wanted for the July 26 robbery.

Applied DNA Sciences analyzed the SigNature DNA-marked notes and confirmed that they had come from the stolen cash box. Ali was found guilty of conspiracy to rob at Birmingham Crown Court on January 26, 2015, and subsequently sentenced to eight years in prison.

West Midlands Police Detective Constable Andrew Mitcham, said: "Ali was at the bookies with the sole purpose of getting rid of the dye-stained notes and taking his winnings receipt to the counter to get clean notes. It was effectively quick-fire money-laundering.

"The victim gave us a distinctive description and said his attacker looked like 'Cat' from Red Dwarf (a popular UK SciFi/Comedy franchise) and in court prosecutors presented an image of the character to the jury to illustrate the comparison.

"The prosecutor clearly had a sense of humor as in his closing speech he said 'Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, the robbery at Wickes has his (pointing at Ali) name on it' in a clear reference to the company's advertising slogan (Wickes' slogan is: 'It's got our name on it,' which refers to their brand of DIY equipment.) Ali has rightly been handed a long prison term… and led to him being found guilty for conspiracy to rob."

When Ladbrokes staff emptied the gaming machine Ali was using, they discovered £480 in dye-stained notes, whilst arresting officers found another £400 in DNA-marked cash on the 26-year-old.

Ali claimed he got the cash after selling off car parts, but could not name the buyer or provide a contact number.

At the time of the robbery, Ali was out on bail having been released from prison while awaiting sentence for a conviction for supplying Class A drugs. He was arrested as part of a Birmingham-wide crackdown on drug dealing by West Midlands Police.

He must now serve the remainder of that sentence -- which runs until September 2016 -- before his eight year robbery term begins.

Tony Benson, Managing Director of Applied DNA Sciences, EMEA, commented, "The Usman Ali case brings our total number of convicted criminals to 92, and over 463 sentence-years where SigNature DNA has been used as evidence. Many more cases are currently being processed through the legal system."

About Applied DNA Sciences
We make life real and safe by providing 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 platform ingredient that is at the heart of all of our security and authentication solutions. SigNature DNA is at the core of a family of uncopyable 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.

Applied DNA Sciences' common stock is listed on NASDAQ under the symbol APDN, and its warrants
are listed under the symbol APDNW. 

Forward-Looking Statement
The statements made by APDN in this press release may be "forward-looking" in nature within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Act of 1995. 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 15, 2014, and our subsequent quarterly report on Form 10-Q which are available at www.sec.gov. 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, unless otherwise required by law.

investor contact:
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media contact:
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program contact:
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+44 7552 429341 
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