Procedure when person entitled to property is unknown or cannot be found
372.—(1)  If the person entitled to the property mentioned in section 370 is unknown or cannot be found, the relevant court may direct that it be detained in police custody and the Commissioner of Police must, in that case, issue a public notice, specifying the articles of which the property consists and requiring any person who has a claim to it to appear before the Commissioner of Police and establish the person’s claim within 6 months from the date of the public notice.
[19/2018]
(2)  Every notice under subsection (1) must be published in the Gazette or any daily newspaper if, in the opinion of the Commissioner of Police, the value of the property is at least $1,000.
(3)  If no person establishes a claim to the property within one month from the publication of a notice under subsection (1) and if the person in whose possession the property was found cannot show the person had legally acquired it, then the property may be sold on the order of the Commissioner of Police.
(4)  Despite subsection (3), if property detained in police custody under this section is perishable or is, in the opinion of the Commissioner of Police, worth less than $1,000, or if keeping it involves unreasonable expense or inconvenience, then the property may be sold at any time and this section applies, as nearly as may be practicable, to the net proceeds of the sale.
(5)  If no person has established a claim to the property within 6 months from the publication of the notice mentioned in subsection (1), the ownership of the property or (if sold) its net proceeds pass to and vest in the Government absolutely.
(6)  If a person establishes the person’s claim to the property within 6 months from the publication of the notice mentioned in subsection (1), and the property has already been sold by the Commissioner of Police, that person is only entitled to the net proceeds.
(7)  In respect of property to which the person entitled is unknown or cannot be found, the relevant court may order the property to be destroyed or otherwise disposed of at any time if in its opinion —
(a)the property is of no appreciable value; or
(b)its value is so small as to —
(i)make its sale impracticable; or
(ii)make the keeping of it in police custody unreasonably expensive or inconvenient.
[19/2018]