Section 17: Powers of inspection

(1) Any police officer or other person authorised in that behalf by any general or special order of the Minister of Health of the Federal Government of Nigeria shall, for the purposes of the execution of this Act, have power to enter the premises of any person carrying on the business of a producer, manufacturer, seller or distributor of any drugs to which any Part of this Act applies, and to demand the production of and to inspect any book or documents relating to dealings in any such drugs and to inspect any stocks of any such drugs.
(2) If a magistrate is satisfied by information on oath that there is reasonable ground for suspecting that any drugs to which any Part of this Act applies are, in contravention of the provisions of this Act or any regulations made hereunder, in the possession or under the control of any person in any premises or vessel, or that any document directly or indirectly relating to or connected with any transaction or dealing which was, or any intended transaction or dealing which would if carried out be, an offence under this Act, or in the case of a transaction or dealing carried out or intended to be carried out in any place outside Nigeria, an offence under the provisions of any corresponding law in force in that place, is in the possession or under the control of any person in any premises or vessel, he may grant a search warrant authorising any police officer named in the warrant, at any time or times within one month from the date of the warrant, to enter, if need be by force, the premises or vessel named in the warrant, and to search the premises or vessel and any persons found therein, and, if there is reasonable ground for suspecting that an offence under this Act has been committed in relation to any such drugs which may be found in the premises or vessel in the possession of any such persons, or that any document which may be so found is such a document as aforesaid, to seize and detain those drugs or that document, as the case may be.
(3) If any person wilfully delays or obstructs any person in the exercise of his powers under this section or fails to produce or conceals or attempts to conceal any such books, stocks, drugs or documents as aforesaid, he shall be guilty of an offence under this Act.