Unlawful purchase, etc., of military stores

(1) Any person who acquires any military stores or solicits or procures any person to dispose of any military stores, or acts for any person in the disposal of any military stores, commits an offence unless he or she proves either– (a) that he or she did not know, and could not reasonably be expected to have known, that the chattels in question were military stores; (b) that those chattels had (by the transaction with which he or she is charged or some earlier transaction) been disposed of by order or with the consent of some person or authority who had, or whom he or she had reasonable cause to believe to have, power to give the order of consent; or (c) that those chattels had become the property of an officer of the force who had retired or ceased to be such an officer, or of the personal representatives of a person who had died, and is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding three hundred dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both, or on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both such fine and term (2) A police officer may arrest without warrant any person whom he has reasonable grounds for suspecting of having committed an offence against this section, and may seize any property which he has reasonable grounds for suspecting of having been the subject of an offence. (3) Any person having authority to issue a warrant for the arrest of a person charged with crime may, if satisfied by evidence on oath that a person within his or her jurisdiction has, or is reasonably suspected of having, in his or her possession any property which has been the subject of an offence against this section, grant a warrant to search for such property as in the case of stolen goods; and any property suspected of having been the subject of such an offence which is found on such a search shall be seized by the officer charged with the execution of the warrant, and that officer shall bring the person in whose possession or keeping the property is found before a magistrates’ court. (4) In this section, 98 “acquire” means buy, take in exchange, take in pawn or otherwise receive (whether apart from this section the receiving is lawful or not); “dispose” means sell, give in exchange, pledge or otherwise hand over (whether apart from this section the handing over is lawful or not); “military stores” means any chattel of any description belonging to the Government, which has been issued for use for military purposes or is held in store for the purposes of being so issued when required, and includes any chattel which had belonged, and had been issued or held, as aforesaid at some past time. (5) For the purposes of sub-section (3), property shall be deemed to be in the possession of a person if he has it under his control, and whether he has it for his or her own use or benefit or for the use or benefit of another.