A pioneering fingerprint technique used to convict a drugs gang from a WhatsApp message “is the future” of how police approach evidence to catch criminals.
An image of a man holding ecstasy tablets in his palm was found on the mobile of someone arrested in Bridgend.
It was sent to South Wales Police’s scientific support unit and helped to secure 11 convictions.
These are believed to be the first convictions in Wales from fingerprints taken from a photograph.
The unit’s Dave Thomas described its use as “groundbreaking” and said officers are now looking more closely at photographs on phones seized for potential evidence.