title: The use of methylamphetamine chemical profiling in an intelligence-led perspective and the observation of inhomogeneity within seizures.
abstract: This study focuses on methylamphetamine (MA) seizures made by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) to investigate the use of chemical profiling in an intelligence perspective. Correlation coefficients were used to obtain a similarity degree between a population of linked samples and a population of unlinked samples. Although it was demonstrated that a general framework can be followed for the use of any forensic case data in an intelligence-led perspective, threshold values have to be re-evaluated for each type of illicit drug investigated. Unlike the results obtained in a previous study on 3,4-methylenedioxymethylamphetamine (MDMA) seizures, chemical profiles of MA samples coming from the same seizure showed relative inhomogeneity, limiting their ability to link seizures. Different hypotheses were investigated to obtain a better understanding of this inhomogeneity although no trend was observed. These findings raise an interesting discussion in regards to the homogeneity and representativeness of illicit drug seizures (for intelligence purposes). Further, it also provides some grounds to discuss the initial hypotheses and assumptions that most forensic science studies are based on.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Forensic Science, University of Technology, Sydney, Broadway, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morelato
authors.affiliation: Centre for Forensic Science, University of Technology, Sydney, Broadway, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Alison
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Beavis
authors.affiliation: Forensics, Australian Federal Police, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tahtouh
authors.affiliation: Ecole des Sciences Criminelles, Université de Lausanne, Lausanne-Dorigny, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ribaux
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: K Paul
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Kirkbride
authors.affiliation: Centre for Forensic Science, University of Technology, Sydney, Broadway, NSW, Australia. Electronic address: Claude.Roux@uts.edu.au.
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roux
mesh_terms: D001315:Australia; D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants / Q000737:chemistry*; D002845:Chromatography / Q000379:methods; D004340:Drug Contamination; D004335:Drug and Narcotic Control; D006801:Humans; D013287:Illicit Drugs / Q000737:chemistry*; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000737:chemistry*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013057:Spectrum Analysis / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D000697:Central Nervous System Stimulants; D013287:Illicit Drugs; D008694:Methamphetamine
keywords: Forensic intelligence; Illicit drug profiling; Methylamphetamine; Representativeness; Seizure homogeneity