Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2021)

33.   Powers to search and obtain evidence

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   (1)   A police officer or other person authorised in that behalf by a general or special order of the Minister shall, for the purposes of the execution of this Act, have power to enter the premises of a person carrying on business as a producer or supplier of any controlled drug and to demand the production of, and to inspect, any books or documents relating to dealings in any such drugs and to inspect any stocks of any such drugs.

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   (2)   If a police officer has reasonable grounds to suspect that a person is in possession of a controlled drug in contravention of this Act or of regulations made under it the police officer may subject to subsections (3), (6) and (7)—

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      (a)     search that person, and detain him or her for the purpose of searching him or her;

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      (b)     search any ship, vessel, boat, aircraft, vehicle or other means of conveyance of any description in which the police officer suspects that the drug may be found, and for that purpose require the person in control of the ship, vessel, boat, aircraft, vehicle or other means of conveyance of any description to stop it; or

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      (c)     seize and detain for the purposes of proceedings under this Act, anything found in the course of the search which appears to the police officer to be evidence of an offence under this Act.

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   (3)   Subsection (2) shall not derogate from any power of search or any power to seize or detain property which is otherwise exercisable by a police officer.

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   (4)   If a magistrate is satisfied by information on oath that there is reasonable ground for suspecting—

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      (a)     that any controlled drug is, in contravention of this Act or of any regulations made under it, in the possession of a person on any premises or in any place; or

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      (b)     that a document directly or indirectly relating to, or connected with, a transaction or dealing which was, or an intended transaction or dealing which would if carried out be, an offence under this Act, or in the case of a transaction or dealing carried out or intended to be carried out in a place outside Saint Lucia an offence against the provisions of a corresponding law in force in that place, is in the possession of a person on any premises or in any place,

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   he or she may issue a warrant authorising any police officer at any time or times within one month from the date of issue of the warrant, to enter, if need be by force, the premises or place named in the warrant, and to search such premises or place and any reasonable ground for suspecting that an offence under this Act has been committed in relation to any controlled drugs found on the premises or place or in the possession of any such person, or that a document so found is such a document as is mentioned in paragraph (b), to seize and detain those drugs or that document, as the case may be.

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   (5)   A person commits an offence if he or she—

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      (a)     intentionally obstructs a person in the exercise of his or her powers under this section;

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      (b)     being the person in control of the ship, vessel, boat, aircraft, vehicle or other means of conveyance of any description fails to stop it when required to do so by a police officer under subsection (2)(b);

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      (c)     being a person being conveyed in a ship, vessel, boat, aircraft, vehicle or other means of conveyance of any description prevents or intimidates the person in control of or any other person operating the ship, vessel, boat, aircraft, vehicle or other means of conveyance of any description from stopping when required to do so by a police officer under subsection (2)(b);

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      (d)     without the permission of the police officer concerned, leaves a ship, vessel, boat, aircraft, vehicle or other means of conveyance of any description which has been stopped by a police officer under subsection (2)(b);

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      (e)     conceals from a person acting in the exercise of his or her powers under subsection (1) any such books, documents, stocks or drugs as are mentioned in that subsection; or

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      (f)     without reasonable excuse (proof of which shall lie on him or her) fails to produce any such books or documents as are so mentioned where their production is demanded by a person in the exercise of his or her powers under that subsection.

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   (6)   A person shall not be searched by any person of the opposite sex unless the consent of the person to be searched has first been obtained, or unless such search is made in the presence of some other person, not being a police officer, of the same sex.

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   (7)   An article of a person's clothing shall not be removed from his or her person during a search at any place other than within a police station.