(1)Every police officer shall take charge of all unclaimed movable property and shall furnish an inventory or description of that property to a magistrate.

(2)Where any property to which subsection (1) applies is neither money nor property subject to speedy and natural decay nor property the immediate sale of which would, in the opinion of the magistrate, be for the benefit of the owner, the magistrate shall detain or give orders for the detention of the property and shall cause a notice to be posted in a conspicuous place at his or her court and at the police stations within his or her jurisdiction specifying the property and calling upon any person who may have any claim to the property to appear and establish his or her claim within six months from the date of the notice.

(3)Where, within six months from the date of the notice, no person establishes his or her claim to the property, the property may be sold or destroyed by order of the magistrate.

(4)Where the property is a firearm or ammunition, a magistrate, instead of ordering the sale or destruction of the firearm or ammunition, may order it to be disposed of in such manner as the Inspector General may direct; and the right to take legal proceedings for the recovery of the property or the proceeds of the sale or destruction of the property, if sold or destroyed, shall cease upon the order being made.

(5)The proceeds of the sale of the property shall be apportioned in the following manner'

(6)Where the magistrate is of the opinion that the property is subject to speedy or natural decay or that its immediate sale would be for the benefit of the owner, the magistrate shall retain the property or give orders for its detention, and may at any time direct that the property be sold without having caused the notice prescribed in subsection (2) to be given prior to the sale.

(7)The proceeds of any sale under subsection (6) shall remain in such custody as the magistrate shall direct, and the magistrate shall immediately after the sale cause a notice of the sale to be posted in the manner prescribed in subsection (2).

(8)A notice under subsection (7) shall specify the property sold and call upon any person who may have any claim to the proceeds of the sale to appear and establish his or her claim within six months from the date of the notice.

(9)Where the unclaimed movable property consists of money, it shall be dealt with in all respects as if it were the proceeds of a sale ordered under subsection (6).