Section 33: Procedure for making confiscation

33. Procedure for making confiscation.__(1) In the trial of offences under this Act, whether the accused is convicted or acquitted, the Special Court shall decide whether any article frozen or seized in connection with such offence is liable to confiscation. (2) Where any article seized under this Act appears to be liable to confiscation under section 32, but the person who committed the offence in connection therewith is not known or cannot be found, the Special Court may inquire into and decide such liability, and may order confiscation accordingly: Provided that no order of confiscation of an article shall be made until the expiry of one month from the date of freezing or seizure, or without hearing any person who may claim any right thereto and the evidence, if any, which he produces in respect of his claim: 1 Added by the control of narcotic substances (Amdt.) Act 2022 (XX of 2022) s.11. 2 Subs. and added by the control of narcotic substances (Amdt.) Act 2022 (XX of 2022) s.12. 1[Provided further that if any such article other than a narcotic drug, psychotropic substance or controlled substance is liable to speedy and natural decay or in case of a vehicle, the Director General, Anti-Narcotic Force, or any other officer authorized by notification in the official Gazette by the Federal Government, is of opinion that the sale of such article or vehicle is for the benefit of its owner, he may, with the approval of the Special Court, after due notice to the owner and by public auction, direct that the article or, as the case may be, the vehicle be sold in accordance with the rules made under this Act and the sale proceeds shall be deposited in the National Fund for Drug Abuse till the final judgment of the court.] 1[(3) If on adjudication or, as the case may be, in case of appeal the vehicle or, as the case may be, an article so sold is found not to have been liable to such confiscation, the entire sale proceeds shall be handed over to the owner.] (4) A narcotic drug, psychotropic substance or controlled substance seized under this Act shall be disposed of under Section 516A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (Act V of 1898) 2[:] 2[Provided that the Federal Government may exempt any narcotic drugs, psychotropic substance and controlled substance for disposal under section 516A of the Code by making rules under this Act.]

Effective date: 1997-07-11

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