VIC Determining illegal search.

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25 September 2020
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I was arrested last year after losing my bag in a club. It fell behind a wall and couldn’t be retrieved.
The same night I lost my bag there was an incident that required the police to come in and check the CCTV footage.
The police saw that I lost my bag and decided to retrieve the bag. They searched the bag and found 4 basically empty bags of mdma. There would have been no more than 0.1 of a gram.
They never weighed or tested the substance. I ended up admitting that it was mdma.
I was charged with possession and use.
I was not present when they searched my bag.
I assume they knew it was my bag as the bag ad to be cut out of the wall with a saw and the owner was present. I had contacted the owner the previous day to organise to get my bag.
There was no valid reason or suspicion for them to search my bag as I have no drug related priors.
They were interested in the male I was with and before recording the police interview told me that if I had gotten the drugs off him and admitted it that they would drop the charges.
I didnt do this obviously.
I’ve asked lawyers about whether the search was legal, some say yes, some say no.
can someone please advise me on whether it was a legal search or not.
 

Ponala

Well-Known Member
10 February 2015
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Legal, the argument being searched the bag to locate ID to return bag to owner, found the drugs during same.