Drug-law technicality to be amended

Press, 24 April 1984, Page 27

Drug-law technicality to be amended

PA Wellington A legal technicality which stops the authorities from detaining persons suspected of having swallowed illegal drugs will be removed by the Government. The decision comes after the Minister of Customs, Mr Allen, said it was clear the police and customs officers did have the legal power to detain and search for drugs carried within the body. The Minister of Justice, Mr McLay, said that the Cabinet had considered a joint report from him and the Ministers of Police and Customs which “indicated that a recent High Court decision had disclosed deficiencies in the present law in respect of internal concealment of drugs by swallowing.” In February, Mr Justice Casey said in the High Court at Auckland that officers had manipulated the law to acquire evidence through examining bowel motions. A couple suspected of im-

porting heroin were kept at Auckland’s Hyatt-Kingsgate Hotel for more than three days, and customs officers stayed with them, the Court had heard.

His Honour concluded that the detention was unlawful, and that there was a gap in the law. He discharged the accused, but subject to the Court of Appeal’s considering the case.

Mr McLay said the Customs Act and Misuse of Drugs Act would be amended to provide for detention where it was necessary to wait for the elimination or discharge of such drugs. At the time of the High Court ruling, Mr Allen told

NZPA that the law covering detention did not set a time limit. In a statement from his office he said, “It is also clear that police and customs officers still have the legal power to detain and search for drugs carried within the body. The decision raises no doubt as to the legal right to search body cavities for concealed

drugs. “The Crown’s legal advisers have made it clear that no-one should conclude from this one court decision that customs or police officers lack powers to detect offences in such a situation.”

Mr McLay said the new law would provide for a judicial overview to ensure

protection of individual rights to freedom from arbitrary detention. “The authorities will be required to apply to a District Court judge for a warrant to detain suspects on the basis that there are reasonable grounds to suspect the internal concealment of drugs,” Mr McLay said.

“There will be a statutory requirement to involve a medical practitioner in the medical supervision of the detention, and the Court will appoint a solicitor to monitor the conditions of the detention.

“The person detained shall have a right of communication with, and legal access to, a solicitor.”