25Seizing and detaining things

25 Seizing and detaining things

(1)  A police officer may, in connection with a search under this Act, seize and detain –

(a) all or part of a thing (including a vehicle) that the police officer suspects on reasonable grounds may be used, or may have been used, to commit a terrorist act; or

(b) all or part of a thing (including a vehicle) that the police officer suspects on reasonable grounds may provide evidence of the commission of a serious indictable offence (whether or not related to a terrorist act).

(2)  A power conferred by this section to seize and detain a thing includes –

(a) a power to remove a thing from the place where it is found; and

(b) a power to guard the thing in or on the place where it is found.

(3)  A police officer who has seized and detained a thing under this section must take reasonable steps to return the thing to the person from whom it was seized if –

(a) that person may lawfully possess the thing; and

(b) the thing is no longer required for investigative or evidentiary purposes in relation to an offence.

(4)  A thing seized or detained under this section that is –

(a) no longer required for investigative or evidentiary purposes in relation to an offence; and

(b) not required under subsection (3) to be returned to the person from whom it was seized –

is forfeited to the Crown and may be disposed of in any manner that the Commissioner of Police thinks fit.