Part 3: Enforcement Section 49: Duty to pass on items seized under section 48
This section applies where an item has been seized under section 48. Under subsection (2), an immigration officer must notify the relevant investigating authority (normally the police or National Crime Agency) as soon as reasonably practicable, that they have seized items during a search.
	Subsection (3) gives immigration officers the discretion to retain evidence where they have reasonable grounds for believing that it may be related to an immigration offence, as with some offences this may not be clear at the outset. Where an immigration officer makes a notification to another public authority under subsections (2) or (3), the relevant authority will tell the immigration officer whether they will accept the item or not (subsections (4) and (5)). If the item is accepted, the immigration officer must hand it over to the investigating authority (subsection (6)). If the investigating authority does not accept the item for example, because they do not believe it is evidence of an offence, and it is not being passed to another investigating authority (subsections (8) – (9)), it must be returned to the person it was taken from, or to the place it was seized (subsection (10)).