Section 31-27-4 - Seizure of property. - New Mexico Statutes

31-27-4. Seizure of property.

Property may be seized by a law enforcement officer:   

A.     pursuant to an order of seizure issued by a district court based on a sworn application of a law enforcement officer from which a determination is made by the court that:   

(1)     there is a substantial probability that:   

(a)     the property is subject to forfeiture;   

(b)     the state will prevail on the issue of forfeiture; and   

(c)     failure to enter the order will result in the property being destroyed, removed from the state or otherwise made unavailable for forfeiture; and   

(2)     the need to preserve the availability of the property through the entry of the requested order outweighs the hardship to the owner and other parties known to be claiming interests in the property; and   

B.     without a prior court order, if the property alleged to be property subject to forfeiture is not a residence or a business, when:   

(1)     the seizure is incident to an arrest for a crime, a search conducted pursuant to a search warrant or an inspection conducted pursuant to an administrative inspection warrant and the law enforcement officer making the arrest or executing the search or inspection warrant has probable cause to believe the property to be property subject to forfeiture and that the subject of the arrest, search warrant or inspection warrant is an owner of the property; or   

(2)     the law enforcement officer making the seizure has probable cause to believe the property is property subject to forfeiture and that the delay occasioned by the need to obtain a court order would frustrate the seizure.