BANKNOTES totalling more than �80,000 were tested by Cambridgeshire Police for fingerprints last year.

The force’s fingerprint bureau handled a total of �82,185 relating to 11 separate cases in 2010 and discovered 425 prints.

Of the 425 prints, there were 45 matches on the fingerprint database.

A total of �166,366 has been submitted to the force bureau since 2007 with 87 matches found during this period.

The evidence can be used to link stolen or counterfeit money to a suspect or confirm that cash has been received through drug dealing.

The laboratory at the force’s Huntingdon headquarters is able to treat banknotes using chemicals and light sources to find fingerprints which are invisible to the naked eye.

Experts then search for matches on a national database of eight million sets of prints.

Head of the force’s fingerprint bureau, Pete Downes, said: “Finding fingerprints on money can be enough to permanently seize cash under the Proceeds of Crime Act and be used as evidence as part of a conviction.

“Many surfaces are good for finding fingerprints but cash is often overlooked.

“It can prove compelling evidence to disprove someone’s account of where a sum of cash has come from.”