Proceeds of Crime Act 2002

CHAPTER 3 - INFORMATION GATHERING  

PART 3-5 - SEARCH AND SEIZURE  

Division 2 - Stopping and searching conveyances  

SECTION 251   Searches without warrant in emergency situations  

251(1)    
This section applies if an * authorised officer suspects, on reasonable grounds, that:

(a) a thing constituting * tainted property or * evidential material is in or on a * conveyance; and

(b) it is necessary to exercise a power under subsection (2) in order to prevent the thing from being concealed, lost or destroyed; and

(c) it is necessary to exercise the power without the authority of a * search warrant because the circumstances are serious and urgent.

251(2)    
The officer may:

(a) stop and detain the * conveyance; and

(b) search the conveyance and any container in or on the conveyance, for the thing; and

(c) seize the thing if he or she finds it there.

251(3)    
If, in the course of searching for the thing, the officer finds another thing constituting * tainted property or * evidential material, the officer may seize that thing if he or she suspects, on reasonable grounds, that:

(a) it is necessary to seize it in order to prevent its concealment, loss or destruction; and

(b) it is necessary to seize it without the authority of a * search warrant because the circumstances are serious and urgent.

251(4)    
The officer must exercise his or her powers subject to section 252 .