18Additional powers of authorized officers

18 Additional powers of authorized officers

(1)  Without prejudice to the powers of seizure contained elsewhere in this Act, where an authorized officer has reasonable grounds for believing that an object is in possession of any person contrary to the provisions of this Act, he may seize that object.

(2)  [Section 18 Subsection (2) substituted by No. 18 of 2017, s. 15, Applied:16 Aug 2017] A person who, when required to do so by an authorized officer, refuses to deliver to that officer any object that the officer is entitled to seize under this Act is guilty of an offence.

Penalty:  In the case of –

(a) a body corporate, other than a small business entity, a fine not exceeding 100 penalty units; or

(b) an individual or a small business entity, a fine not exceeding 50 penalty units.

(3)  A justice may, on the complaint of an authorized officer that the officer has reasonable grounds for believing that there is in or on any premises, conveyance, container, or animal an object that the officer is entitled to seize under this Act, issue a warrant to an authorized officer named in the warrant authorizing him –

(a) to enter and search those premises or that conveyance;

(b) to search that container and, if necessary for the purposes of searching it, to open that container; or

(c) to search any container or other thing carried by that animal and, if necessary for the purposes of searching it, to open that thing.

(4)  For the purposes of conducting a search in a conveyance or in respect of an animal pursuant to a warrant under subsection (3) , an authorized officer may require that conveyance or animal to be stopped and, if it is on a protected site or on or in any water, he may bring it, or cause or require it to be brought, to some convenient place for the search to be carried out.

(5)  For the purpose of facilitating the exercise of his powers pursuant to a warrant under subsection (3) in respect of any premises, conveyance, container, or animal, an authorized officer may require the person apparently in charge of those premises, or that conveyance, container, or animal, or any of his servants or agents, to afford him such assistance as he may require.