Criminal Code (Cap. 9)

Criminal Code (Cap. 9), article 355E

Official PDF on legislation.mt

355E. (1) Saving the cases where the law provides otherwise, no police officer shall, without a warrant from a Magistrate, e nter any premises, house, building or enclosure for the purpose of effecting any search therein or arresting any person who has committed or is reasonably suspected of having committed or of being about to commit any offence unless - (a) t h e o f f e n c e i s a c r i m e a n d t h e r e i s i m m i n e n t d a n g e r that the said person m ay escape or that the corpus delicti or the means of proving the offence will be suppressed; or (b) the person is detected in the very act of committing a 216 CAP . 9.] CRIMINAL CODE crime; or (c) the intervention of the Police is necessary in order to prevent the commissi on of a crime; or (d) the entry is necessary for t he execution of any warrant or order issued by any other competent authority in the cases prescribed by law; or (e) the arrest is for the purpose of apprehending a person who is unlawfully at large after escaping from lawful arrest or detention; or (f) the entry is necessa ry for purposes of: (i) executing the arrest , or ascertaining the whereabouts, of a person in respect of whom an alert has been entered in the Schengen Information System and t h e r e i s a n i m m i n e n t danger that the said p erson may escape; or (ii) discovering any property in respect of which an alert has been entered in the Schengen I n f o r m a t i o n S y s t e m a n d t h e r e i s a n i m m i n e n t danger that the property may be concealed, lost, damaged, altered or destroyed; or (g) the entry is necessary for the protection of any person, including minors or vulnerable persons who need to be prevented from travelling owing to a concrete and apparent risk of them being removed from or leaving the territory of a Member State or who need to be placed under protection in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1862 establishing the Schengen Information System. (2) The expression "enclosure" does not include any plot of land enclosed by rubble walls. (3) A warrant may also be issued by a Magistrate as mentioned in sub-article (1) for the purpose of: (a) effecting the arrest or ascer taining the whereabouts of a person in respect of whom an alert has been entered in the Schengen Information System; or (b) discovering and seizing any property in respect of which an alert has been entered in the Schengen Information System. Subsidiary powers of Police in execution of warrants. Added by: III.2002.74.

Have a question about the law?

The assistant answers from the same library and names the article it relies on.

Ask Margos AI →

Text read from the consolidated PDF published by Legislation Malta. Tables, figures and marginal notes may be incomplete or out of place: the official PDF is authoritative. General information, not legal, tax or accounting advice.