AFTE Store - Tool Mark Considerations in a Comparison of Damaged Commercial Drug Packaging

A request was received to determine if any association could be made between damaged commercial morphine tablet packaging (foil backed plastic blister packs) in the possession of two suspects. It was thought a single tablet had been torn from a larger plastic sheet of tablets. This was an unusual toolmark case and the issues considered upon examination of these items are recounted. In particular, an investigation into the processes used at the tablet packaging factory was essential as manufacturing marks and features on the sheets of tablets were used, in addition to a physical ‘fit’, to prove a common origin between two items in question.