11 Search and Surveillance Powers Recommendations 13.14 Forfeiture of a seized item should only be ordered by the court where there is a specific statutory 13.15 i f a seized item produced in evidence is not forfeited, the enforcementofficer should return to the person entitled to its possession, or it should be the subject of an application to the court by either the enforcement officer or a person claiming to be Items that may not be lawfully possessed 13.61 Property seized pursuant to a search power may include things that it is illegal to possess (referred to in this section as unlawful items). These are items the possession of which is, either generally or in certain circumstances, an offence. They include such things as controlled drugs, objectionable material, firearms and other weapons. Following seizure, and until a prosecution is finalised, retaining those items as evidential material can be dealt with in the same way as other seized items. Where a conviction results, the relevant legislation makes provision for the forfeiture or other disposal of the particul 44 13.62 however, the seizure of unlawful items will not always result in prosecution and conviction. The person to whom the item belongs may not be able to be located, or for other reasons may not be able to be prosecuted for the offence. Prosecution may not necessarily result in a conviction. i n these circumstances, there must be adequate powers to allow for the disposal of such items. There are already a number of provisions that allow for this: section 70 of the a  rms a ct 1983 seized firearms that are not the subject of a court order may be disposed of, without notice, as directed by the commissioner after being held for not less than 12 months; section 199(2) of the Summary Proceedings act 1957 following a court order, forged banknotes and counterfeit coins may be forfeited and destroyed, without notice to the person from whom they were seized; sections 116-118 of the Films, videos, and Publications classificationact 1993 following a court order, objectionable material may be destroyed after notifying the person from whom it was seized. 13.63 There is no similar explicit provision to deal with controlled drugs and offensive weapons without prosecution and conviction, but we understand problems rarely arise. i n the case of the former, if there is no one with a legitimate claim to possession their destruction or disposal presents no difficulty in practice. in relation to offensive weapons, as their carriage is only unlawful in certain circumstances, their destruction is not generally justified in the absence of a prosecution and conviction. 13.64 While existing provisions cover much of the ground, they adopt an inconsistent approach; most of them do not require notice to the person concerned, and they vary in terms of whether they require a court order before destruction or disposal. 44 See para 13.57 above.