A company which makes drug testing kits for the police and the probation service has won a multi-million pound contract from the Home Office.

Cozart Bioscience, based at Milton Park, near Abingdon, has been told its drug testing kits will be used at more than 150 sites across the country.

The technology, called the Cozart(r) RapiScan, has been used as part of a Home Office trial since mid-2001 to test people at 75 locations.

The company's kits will be used by the police and the probation services in England and Wales.

The deal is for two years, with a possible two-year extension.

Oxford police have been using the system to test suspects since December 2002.

People arrested for theft and burglary are asked to submit to a test and encouraged into treatment if it proves positive.

The kit allows a sample of a suspect's saliva to be taken.

It is then tested at the police station for traces of heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine.

Dr Chris Hand, Cozart's managing director, said: "We're proud of the world-beating combination of scientists, biochemists, electronics and software engineers we have at the core of Cozart's activities here in the UK, who have established the Cozart(r) RapiScan as the system of choice for the Home Office."

A Home Office spokesman said: "The results provide more information for the courts to help them decide how best to deal with an offender, to break the cycle of drugs, crime and prison."