Section 250: Unlawful purchase, etc., of service stores

(1) A person who acquires any service stores or solicits or procures a person to dispose of any service stores, or acts for a person in the disposing of any service stores is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred naira or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or to both such fine and imprisonment, unless he proves that-
(a) he did not know, and could not reasonably be expected to know, that the chattel in question was service stores; or
(b) the chattel (whether the subject of the transaction with which he is charged or some other earlier transaction) had been disposed of by order or with the consent of the Forces Council or of a person or an authority who had, or whom he had reasonable cause to believe to have, power to give the order or consent; or
(c) the chattel had become the property of an officer who had retired or ceased to be an officer or of an Armed Forces personnel who had been discharged, or of the personal representative of a person who had died.
(2) A police officer may arrest without warrant a person whom he has reasonable grounds for suspecting of having committed an offence under this section, and may seize any property which he has reasonable grounds for suspecting of having been the subject of the offence.
(3) A person who has authority to issue a warrant for the arrest of a person charged with a crime may, if satisfied by evidence on oath that a person within his jurisdiction has, or is reasonably suspected of having, in his possession any property which has been the subject of an offence under this section, grant a warrant to search for the property as in the case of stolen goods.
(4) Any property suspected of having been the subject of an offence which is found on a search under subsection (3) of this section 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 magistrate's court.
(5) For the purposes of this section-
(a) 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 own use or benefit or for the use or benefit of any other person or not;
(b) "acquire" means buy, take in exchange, take in pawn or otherwise receive (whether apart from this section the handing over is lawful or not);
(c) "dispose" means sell, give in exchange, pledge or otherwise hand over (whether apart from this section the handing over is lawful or not);
(d) "service stores" means chattels of any description belonging to the Federal Government, which has been issued for the use or for the purposes of a service of the Armed Forces or is held in store for the purpose of being issued when required, and includes a chattel which had previously so belonged and had been so issued or held.