Northern Territory Consolidated Acts Northern Territory Consolidated Acts(1) An eligible person may apply to an issuing officer for the issue of a warrant under subsection (2) if:
(a) the eligible person has reasonable grounds for suspecting that, on a particular day (the relevant day ), being the day on which, or a particular day within one month after the day on which, the application is made, there may be, on any land or on or in any premises, vessel, aircraft or vehicle, a thing or things of a particular kind connected with a special ACC operation/investigation ( things of the relevant kind ); and
(b) the eligible person believes on reasonable grounds that, if a summons were issued for the production of the thing or things, the thing or things might be concealed, lost, mutilated or destroyed.
(2) If an application under subsection (1) is made, the issuing officer may issue a warrant authorising a person named in the warrant (the authorised person ), with the assistance the authorised person thinks necessary and if necessary by force:
(a) to enter upon the land or upon or into the premises, vessel, aircraft or vehicle;
(b) to search the land, premises, vessel, aircraft or vehicle for things of the relevant kind;
(c) to seize any things of the relevant kind found upon the land or upon or in the premises, vessel, aircraft or vehicle; and
(d) to deliver the things seized to any person participating in the special ACC operation/investigation.
(3) A member of the Australian Federal Police cannot be an authorised person unless he or she is also a member of the staff of the ACC.
(4) An issuing officer must not issue a warrant under subsection (2) unless:
(a) the issuing officer has been given:
(i) an affidavit setting out the grounds on which the issue of the warrant is being sought; and
(ii) if the issuing officer requires further information concerning the grounds on which the issue of the warrant is being sought – that further information, either orally or by affidavit; and
(b) the issuing officer is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for issuing the warrant.
(5) If an issuing officer issues a warrant under subsection (2), he or she must state on the affidavit mentioned in subsection (4)(a)(i) which of the grounds specified in that affidavit have been relied on to justify the issue of the warrant and particulars of any other grounds relied on to justify the issue of the warrant.
(6) A warrant issued under this section must:
(a) state the purpose for which the warrant is issued, including a reference to the special ACC operation/investigation with which the things of the relevant kind are connected;
(b) state whether entry is authorised to be made at any time of the day or night or during specified hours of the day or night;
(c) describe the kind of things authorised to be seized; and
(d) specify a date, not being later than one month after the date of issue of the warrant, upon which the warrant ceases to have effect.
(7) A warrant issued under this section may be executed, subject to its terms, at any time during the period commencing on the relevant day and ending on the date specified in the warrant as the date on which the warrant ceases to have effect.
(8) A person executing a warrant issued under this section may only use the reasonable force necessary for the execution.
(9) If, in the course of searching, under a warrant issued under this section, for a thing of the relevant kind, the person executing the warrant:
(a) finds a thing that he or she believes on reasonable grounds to be evidence that would be admissible in the prosecution of a person for an offence against a law of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory; and
(b) believes on reasonable grounds that it is necessary to seize the thing in order to prevent its concealment, loss, mutilation or destruction, or its use in committing an offence,
the person may seize the thing and, if he or she does so, the thing is to be taken, for the purposes of this Act, to have been seized pursuant to the warrant.
(10) The head of the special ACC operation/investigation may retain a thing seized pursuant to a warrant issued under this section if, and for so long as, is reasonably necessary for the purposes of the special ACC operation/investigation to which the thing is relevant.
(11) Subject to subsection (12), if the retention of the thing by the head of the special ACC operation/investigation is not, or ceases to be, reasonably necessary for the purposes mentioned in subsection (10), a person participating in the special ACC operation/investigation must cause the thing to be delivered to:
(a) if the thing may be used in evidence in proceedings of a kind referred to in subsection (13) – the authority or person responsible for taking the proceedings; or
(b) if subparagraph (i) does not apply – the person who appears to the person participating in the special ACC operation/investigation to be entitled to the possession of the thing.
(12) Subsection (11) does not apply if the CEO has given the thing to the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory, or to a law enforcement agency, or to another person or authority, in accordance with section 34(1)(a), (b) or (c).
(13) A person participating in the special ACC operation/investigation may, instead of delivering a thing in accordance with subsection (11)(b), deliver the thing to the Attorney-General of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory, or to a law enforcement agency, for the purpose of assisting in the investigation of criminal offences, where the person participating in the special ACC operation/investigation is satisfied that the thing is likely to be useful for that purpose.
(14) This section does not affect a right of a person to apply for, or the power of a person to issue, a warrant, being a right or power existing otherwise than by virtue of this section.
(15) Without limiting the generality of subsection (1)(a), a reference in this section to a thing connected with a special ACC operation/investigation, includes a reference to a thing that may be used in evidence in proceedings for the taking, by or on behalf of the Crown in right of the Commonwealth or of a State or Territory, of civil remedies in respect of a matter connected with, or arising out of, an offence to which the special ACC operation/investigation relates.
(16) In this section:
"thing" includes a document.