LAW ENFORCEMENT (POWERS AND RESPONSIBILITIES) ACT 2002 - SECT 42 Power to search vessels and aircraft and seize things without warrant

LAW ENFORCEMENT (POWERS AND RESPONSIBILITIES) ACT 2002 - SECT 42

42 Power to search vessels and aircraft and seize things without warrant

(cf Crimes Act 1900 , ss 357, 357D, 357E)

(1) A police officer may, without a warrant, stop, search and detain a vessel or an aircraft if the police officer suspects on reasonable grounds that any of the following circumstances exists--

(a) the vessel or aircraft contains, or a person in the vessel or aircraft has in his or her possession or under his or her control, anything stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained,

(b) the vessel or aircraft is being or was used in or in connection with the commission of a relevant offence,

(c) the vessel or aircraft contains anything used or intended to be used in or in connection with the commission of a relevant offence,

(d) the vessel or aircraft is in a public place and contains a dangerous article that is being or was used in or in connection with the commission of a relevant offence.

(2) A police officer may seize and detain--

(a) all or part of a thing that the police officer suspects on reasonable grounds is stolen or otherwise unlawfully obtained, and

(b) all or part of a thing that the police officer suspects on reasonable grounds may provide evidence of the commission of a relevant offence, and

(c) any dangerous article, and

(d) any prohibited plant or prohibited drug in the possession or under the control of a person in contravention of the Drug Misuse and Trafficking Act 1985 ,

found as a result of a search under this section.

(3) The following offences are
"relevant offences" for the purposes of this section--

(a) indictable offences,

(b) an offence against section 93FB of the Crimes Act 1900 ,

(c) an offence against the Weapons Prohibition Act 1998 , the Firearms Act 1996 , or a regulation made under either of those Acts.