PESHAWAR, Aug 7: The United States is assisting the NWFP police department in establishing a DNA laboratory to deal with cases relating to war on terror, officials say. They said the US had shown interest in setting up the DNA laboratory because of the increasing cases of explosion and suicide bombings.

“We send about 20 samples for DNA examinations every month to the National Forensic Science Agency (NFSA), Islamabad. Despite paying Rs3,000 to Rs5,000 per case, the results are often delayed that affected the investigation process,” the officials added.

Introduced by the UK in 1985, DNA is the latest technology used to bridge a gap between legal and scientific investigations. It can be used in cases relating to liquor, fingerprinting, documents, narcotics, rape and sodomy, firearms, blood, chemical examinations, murder and dacoity.

“Two years back, the US had started preparing a feasibility report to establish a DNA laboratory at the department of forensic medicines and toxicology of the Khyber Medical College (KMC), but it could not be materialised,” he said, adding that the US had already begun assisting a programme under which fingerprints of the criminals were collected.

“We visit courts, jails and police stations and collect fingerprints of the criminals and send these to a cell at the US embassy in Islamabad,” the official said, adding that the US was interested in putting in place DNA testing services to investigate those killed in the US-led war on terror and establish their identity.

Two officials of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Peshawar, participated in the eighth US-sponsored conference on DNA held at the Lahore University of Sciences last month.He said that police officials of FSLs from the four provinces had been invited to the Lahore workshop to raise their capacity regarding DNA. The participants would be holding workshops in their respective cities to impart training to police personnel, the official added.

He said the NWFP home and health departments were working on a plan to set up the DNA laboratory at the KMC.

“We need more DNA testing, but the non-availability of laboratory has been hampering our plan. After the setting up of laboratory, we will be able to start compilation of a DNA profile of all criminals so that it could be used whenever needed, the official said.