# Detention of suspected offenders

> act-s250 — as in force on 2026-06-04 — C2026C00232 · Compilation No. 171 — https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2026C00232/latest/text

250 Detention of suspected offenders
          (1) In this section:
               suspect means a non-citizen who:
                 (a) travelled, or was brought, to the migration zone; and
                (b) is believed by an authorised officer on reasonable grounds to
                     have been on board a vessel (not being an aircraft) when it
                     was used in connection with the commission of an offence
                     against a law in force in the whole or any part of Australia.
          (2) For the purposes of section 189, an officer has a suspicion
              described in that section about a person if, but not only if, the
              person is a suspect.
          (3) A non-citizen detained because of subsection (2) may be kept in
              immigration detention for:
                (a) such period as is required for:
                      (i) the making of a decision whether to prosecute the
                          suspect in connection with the offence concerned; or
                     (ii) instituting such a prosecution; and
               (b) if such a prosecution is instituted within that period—such
                    further period as is required for the purposes of the
                    prosecution.









          (4) Without limiting the generality of paragraph (3)(b), the period that
              is required for the purposes of a prosecution includes any period
              required for:
                (a) any proceedings in connection with the prosecution; and
                (b) the serving of any custodial sentence imposed because of the
                    prosecution; and
                (c) the institution of, and any proceedings in connection with,
                    any appeal from any decision in relation to the prosecution.
          (5) If the period for which a person may be kept in immigration
              detention under subsection (3) ends, he or she:
                (a) must, unless he or she has become the holder of a visa, that is
                     in effect, to remain in Australia, be expeditiously removed
                     from Australia under section 198; and
                (b) may, at the direction of an authorised officer, continue to be
                     detained under section 189 until so removed.