Queensland company Grabba International has delivered a shipment of handheld smart card readers for use by the Royal Malaysia Police Force. The initial shipment, valued at $A330,000, is part of a continuing supply arrangement that was negotiated by Grabba's Malaysian partner Corporation Tricubes Berhad.

Frank Downes, CEO of Grabba, explained that the devices will be used to read the Malaysian national identity card, which incorporates a driver's licence. The readers will be attached to Hewlett-Packard iPaq 900 series smartphones and software provided by Tricubes will enable police officers to connect to a central database in real time to verify stored records against data on the card in order to check card authenticity and verify the currency of motor vehicle registration. "Malaysia has a strong electronics manufacturing industry and provides considerable support for R&D by local companies. This success by Grabba International is a great outcome for Australian technology and for the R&D team at Grabba," Downes added.