Magistrate may permit a thing seized under a search warrant etc. to be retained
107EB Magistrate may permit a thing seized under a search warrant etc. to be retained
If a thing is seized as evidential material by an officer under a search warrant or section 9 of the Crimes Act 1914, and:
before the end of 120 days after the seizure; or
before the end of a period previously specified in a magistrate’s order under this section;
proceedings in respect of which the thing may afford evidence have not been started, an officer may apply to a magistrate for an order that the thing be retained.
If the magistrate is satisfied:
that it is necessary for the retention of the thing to be continued:
for the purposes of an investigation as to whether an offence has been committed; or
to enable evidence of an offence to be assembled for the purposes of a prosecution; and
that there has been no avoidable delay in conducting the investigation or assembling the evidence concerned;
the magistrate may order that the thing be retained for a period specified in the order.
Before making the application, the officer must:
take reasonable steps to discover who has an interest in the retention of the thing; and
if it is practicable to do so, notify each person whom the officer believes to have such an interest of the proposed application.
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