§164a. Enforcement of quarantine against nursery stock and plant products; search and seizure

Any employee of the Department of Agriculture, authorized by the Secretary of Agriculture to enforce the provisions of this chapter and furnished with and wearing a suitable badge for identification, who has probable cause to believe that any person coming into the United States, or any vehicle, receptacle, boat, ship, or vessel, coming from any country or countries or moving interstate, possesses, carries, or contains any nursery stock, plants, plant products, or other articles the entry or movement of which in interstate or foreign commerce is prohibited or restricted by the provisions of this chapter, or by any quarantine or order of the Secretary of Agriculture issued or promulgated pursuant thereto, shall have power to stop and, without warrant, to inspect, search, and examine such person, vehicle, receptacle, boat, ship, or vessel, and to seize, destroy, or otherwise dispose of, such nursery stock, plants, plant products, or other articles found to be moving or to have been moved in interstate commerce or to have been brought into the United States in violation of this chapter, or of such quarantine or order.

(Aug. 20, 1912, ch. 308, §10, as added May 1, 1928, ch. 462, 45 Stat. 468 .)

Codification

Section is composed of part of section 10 of act Aug. 20, 1912. Other provisions of section 10 are classified to sections 163 and 164 of this title.

Transfer of Functions

Functions of all officers, agencies, and employees of Department of Agriculture transferred, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of Agriculture by 1953 Reorg. Plan No. 2, §1, eff. June 4, 1953, 18 F.R. 3219, 67 Stat. 633, set out as a note under section 2201 of this title.