Section 24
of Forest Act
Section 24
(1)
Any forest officer or police officer may by warrant, enter any building, place or land and search, seize and remove —
(a)
any forest produce in respect of which any offence against this Act has or is suspected to have been committed; and
(b)
any machinery, equipment, tool, book, document or other thing that he reasonably believes to furnish evidence of the commission of that offence.
(2)
Every forest officer seizing any property under this section shall place on such property, or on the receptacle, if any, in which it is contained, a mark indicating that the property has been so seized and shall, so soon as may be make a report of such seizure to the Magistrate having jurisdiction to try the offence on account of which the seizure has been made:
Provided that, in any case, where such property has been seized in connection with an offence dealt with by a forest officer in the exercise of his power under section 32 or committed by some person unknown or who cannot be found, it shall not be necessary to report to a Magistrate the seizure thereof.
(3)
Any forest officer or police officer acting under subsection (1)
may —
(a)
break open any door of any building or place or any fence, enclosure, gate or other obstruction to the land, in order to effect entry therein;
(b)
remove by force any obstruction to such entry, search, seizure and removal as he is empowered to effect under subsection (1);
(c)
detain any person found in the building or place or on the land until it has been searched.
Forest
B.L.R.O. 5/2013 29
Search without warrant.