Commonwealth Consolidated Acts Commonwealth Consolidated Acts(1) This section applies if, in conducting a search referred to in paragraph 406(1)(a) or (ba), an authorised officer or a person who conducts a search because of subsection 406A(2) finds:
(a) an eligible seizable item; or
(b) a thing that may be evidential material in relation to an offence against an environmental law, in relation to a contravention of an environmental penalty provision or in relation to both.
(2) An authorised officer may:
(a) take possession of the item or thing; and
(b) keep the item or thing for so long as he or she thinks necessary for the purposes of this Act or the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 .
(3) A person who conducts a search because of subsection 406A(2) must take possession of the item or thing and give it to an authorised officer.
(4) An authorised officer who is given an item or thing under subsection (3) may keep it for so long as he or she thinks necessary for the purposes of this Act or the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 .
(5) If:
(a) an authorised officer is keeping an item or thing under subsection (2) or (4); and
(b) the item or thing was found in conducting a search of a person under paragraph 406(1)(ba); and
(c) the person is detained under Schedule 1;
the authorised officer may continue to keep the item or thing for so long as he or she thinks necessary for the purposes of this Act, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Act 1975 or the Migration Act 1958 .
Note: Once the person ceases to be detained under Schedule 1, the person will generally need to be detained under the Migration Act 1958 while he or she is in the migration zone (because his or her enforcement visa under that Act will cease to have effect). Subsection (5) ensures the officer can keep the item or thing while the person is detained under this Act or that Act.