Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2021)

16.   Inspection of wharf, carriage, etc., with explosive in transits

1.  

   (1)   The Commissioner of Police and gazetted officers of the Police Force, the Director of Finance and Planning, and any officer appointed by the Governor General for the purposes of this Act, or of any order of the Governor General made under this Act, may, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the provisions of this Act, or the terms and conditions of any such order, with respect to the conveyance, loading, unloading, and importation of an explosive are complied with, enter, inspect, and examine at any time, and as well on Sundays as on other days, the wharf, carriage, vessel, or boat of any carrier or other person who conveys goods for hire, or of the occupier of any factory, magazine, or store, or of the importer of any explosive, on or in which wharf, carriage, vessel, or boat he or she has reasonable cause to suppose an explosive to be for the purpose or in course of conveyance, but so as not to unnecessarily obstruct the work or business of any such carrier, person, occupier, or importer. (Amended by Act 22 of 1964)

1.  

   (2)   Any such officer, if he or she finds any offence being committed against this Act or any order of the Governor General made under this Act, on or in any such wharf, carriage, vessel, or boat, or on any public wharf, may seize and detain or remove the said carriage, vessel, or boat, or the explosive, in such manner and with such precautions as may appear to him or her to be necessary to prevent any danger to the public, and may seize and detain the said explosive, as if it were liable to forfeiture.

1.  

   (3)   Any such officer and any revenue or police officer who has reasonable cause to believe that any offence against this Act or any order of the Governor General made under this Act, is being committed in respect of any carriage or any boat conveying, loading, or unloading any explosive, and that the case is one of emergency, and that the delay in obtaining a warrant will be likely to endanger life, may stop, and enter, inspect, and examine, such carriage or boat, and by detention or removal thereof or otherwise, take such precautions as may be reasonably necessary for preventing such danger, in like manner as if such explosive were liable to forfeiture.

1.  

   (4)   Every such officer shall, for all the purposes of this section, have the same powers and be in the same position as if he or she were authorised by a search warrant granted under this Act, and every person who fails to admit or obstructs such officer is liable to the same penalty as a person who fails to admit or obstructs an officer so authorised as aforesaid.