Commonwealth Consolidated Acts

CUSTOMS ACT 1901 - SECT 219L

  (1)   Where a detention officer suspects on reasonable grounds that a person is unlawfully carrying any prohibited goods on his or her body, an officer of Customs may, while a person is at a designated place, detain the person at the place for the purposes of being searched under this Subdivision.

  (1A)   If:

  (a)   officers have boarded a ship, aircraft or installation under section   187 for the purpose of conducting a search, or exercising any other power, under that section, in relation to that ship, aircraft or installation; and

  (b)   a detention officer suspects on reasonable grounds that a person who is on board the ship, aircraft or installation is unlawfully carrying prohibited goods on his or her body;

the detention officer may detain the person for the purpose of being searched under this Subdivision.

  (2)   Without limiting the generality of subsection   (1) or (1A), a suspicion on reasonable grounds for the purposes of that subsection includes a suspicion reasonably formed on the basis of any of the following:

  (a)   the person's travel itinerary, including plans in relation to places that have been visited or are intended to be visited by the person;

  (b)   declarations or statements made under a law of the Commonwealth by the person in the course of arriving in or departing from Australia;

  (c)   documents in the person's possession, including passports, visas or tickets;

  (d)   unusual behaviour of the person observed by or reported to an officer of Customs;

  (e)   the contents of or appearance of any visible item carried by the person or, if the person has baggage, of the person's baggage, whether or not carried by the person;

  (f)   the answers given by the person in relation to questions asked by an officer of Customs in the exercise of powers under this Act, or the refusal or failure of the person to answer such questions;

  (g)   the documents produced by the person in compliance with an obligation under this Act, or the refusal or failure of the person to produce such documents.