- (b) in Northern Ireland, except by or with the consent of the Attorney General for Northern Ireland.
(2) At the end of section 40(1) of the 1959 c. 25 (N.I.).
1967 c. 18 (N.I.).County Courts Act (Northern Ireland) 1959 as amended by section 8 of the Criminal Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1967 (original jurisdiction of county courts in Northern Ireland) the following paragraph shall be added:—
- “(i) any offence under section 1 of the Biological Weapons Act 1974 and any attempt, conspiracy or incitement to commit such an offence.”.
(3) Subsection (1) above shall not prevent the issue or execution of a warrant for the arrest of any person in respect of an offence, or the remanding in custody or on bail of any person charged with an offence.
Offences by bodies corporate. 3. Where an offence under section 1 of this Act which is committed by a body corporate is proved to have been committed with the consent and connivance of, or to be attributable to any negligence on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate, or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he as well as the body corporate shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.
Powers to search and obtain evidence. 4.—(1) If a justice of the peace is satisfied by information on oath, or in Scotland the sheriff or a magistrate or justice of the peace is satisfied by evidence on oath, that there is reasonable ground for suspecting that an offence under section 1 of this Act has been, or is about to be, committed, he may grant a search warrant authorising a constable named therein—
- (a) to enter, at any time within one month from the date of the warrant, any premises or place named therein. if necessary by force, and to search the premises or place and every person found therein;
- (b) to inspect any document found in the premises or place or in the possession of any person found therein, and to take copies of, or seize or detain any such document;
- (c) to inspect, seize and detain any equipment so found; and
- (d) to inspect, sample, seize and detain any substance so found.
(2) A warrant issued under subsection (1) above, authorising a constable to take the steps mentioned in that subsection, may also authorise any person named in the warrant to accompany the constable and assist him in taking any of those steps.
