Section 35

Any person who has in his or her possession or conveys in any manner anything which may be reasonably suspected of being stolen or fraudulently obtained shall, if the person fails to account satisfactorily how he or she came by the same, be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $3,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both.

If any person charged with having or conveying anything stolen or fraudulently obtained declares that he or she received the same from some other person, or that he or she was employed as a carrier, agent or servant to convey the same for some other person, the court may cause every such other person, and also (if necessary) every former or pretended purchaser or other person through whose possession the same has passed (if such other person is alleged to have had possession of the same within the jurisdiction of that court) to be brought before it and examined, and is to examine witnesses upon oath touching the same.

If it appears to the court that any person so brought before it had possession of such thing and had reasonable cause to believe the same to have been stolen or fraudulently obtained, that person shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year or to both.

In this section, “possession” includes possession in a house, building, ship, vessel, boat or other place as well as possession in a public road or place.

Any person who —

If information is given on oath to a Magistrate’s Court that there is cause to suspect that any property which may be reasonably suspected of being stolen or fraudulently obtained is within any house, building, ship, vessel, boat or other place, the Court may, by warrant directed to any police officer, cause the house, building, ship, vessel, boat or other place to be entered and searched at any hour of the day or night.

The information mentioned in subsection (6) must describe the property which it is reasonably suspected has been stolen or fraudulently obtained, and must also describe the house, building, ship, vessel, boat or other place in which the property is suspected to be.

If upon the making of the search any property, such as that described in the information, is found in the house, building, ship, vessel, boat or other place, the police officer making the search or some other police officer must convey the property before a Magistrate’s Court or guard the property on the spot or otherwise dispose thereof in some place of safety.

The police officer making the search or some other police officer must also take into custody and bring before a Magistrate’s Court every person in such house, building, ship, vessel, boat or other place in whose possession or under whose control such property is found.

Sections 31 and 37 of the Criminal Procedure Code 2010 apply to searches made under subsections (6), (7), (8) and (9).