COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP): The state’s forensic scientists have tested more than 9,800 rape kits submitted by law enforcement agencies around Ohio to check for possible DNA matches.

Nearly 12,000 kits had been submitted for testing as of Feb. 1 in an effort that began in 2011 to check previously untested kits for evidence. About 2,600 of those kits were submitted after a new law went into effect last March.

That law requires law enforcement agencies to submit any previously untested sexual assault kits associated with a past crime to a crime lab within a year.

All newly collected rape kits must be turned over within 30 days after an agency determines a crime has been committed.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine says the DNA testing has led to indictments of hundreds of suspects.