Date:23/12/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/12/23/stories/2008122357612000.htm

Sport - Sports : General

Blood from mosquito traps Finnish suspect

Helsinki: Police in Finland believe they have caught a car-thief thanks to a DNA sample taken from a sample of his blood found inside a mosquito.

Last June a car was stolen in Lapua, some 380 km north of Helsinki. It was soon found near a railway station in Seinaejoki, about 25 km from where it was stolen.

“A police patrol carried out an inspection of the car and they noticed a mosquito that had sucked blood. It was sent to the laboratory for testing, which showed the blood belonged to a man who was in the police registers,” inspector Sakari Palomaeki told AFP.

The suspect, who has been interrogated, has insisted that he did not steal the car. He also said he had hitch hiked and was given a lift by a man driving the car.

Palomaeki said a prosecutor would decide if the evidence was solid enough for charges to be pressed. — AFP