Section 46 Nigeria Police Act

Section 46 of the Nigeria Police Act 2020 is about Inventory of property of arrested suspect. It is under Part VII (Powers of Police Officers) of the Act. It provides as follows:

(1) A police officer making an arrest or to whom a private person hands over the suspect, shall immediately record information about the arrested suspect and an inventory of all items or property recovered from the suspect.

(2) An inventory recorded under subsection (I) shall be duly signed by the police officer and the arrested suspect, but the failure of the arrested suspect to sign the inventory does not invalidate it.

(3) The arrested suspect, his legal practitioner or such other person, as the arrested suspect may direct, shall be given a copy of the inventory.

(4) Where any property has been taken under this section from an arrested suspect, a police officer may, upon request by either the owner of the property or parties having interest in the property, release such property on bond pending the arraignment of the arrested suspect before a court.

(5) Where a police officer refuses to release the property to the owner or any person having interest in the property under subsection (4), the police officer shall immediately make a report to the court of the fact of the property taken from the arrested suspect and the particulars of the property.

(6) The court to which a report is made under subsection (5), may, if it is of the opinion that the property or any portion of it can be returned in the interest of justice to the safe custody of the owner or person having interest in the property, direct that the property or any portion of it be returned to the owner or to such person having interest in the property.

(7) Where any property has been taken from a suspect under this section, and the suspect is not charged before a court but is released on the ground that there is no sufficient reason to believe that he has committed an offence, any property so taken from the suspect shall be returned to him, provided the property is neither connected to nor a proceed of an offence.