(1)Any person arrested for an offence under this Act shall be informed, as soon as may be, of the grounds for, such arrest and shall be produced before nearest Magistrate within a period of twenty-four hours of such arrest excluding the time necessary for the journeys from the place of arrest to the court of the Magistrate; and no such person shall be detained in custody beyond the said period without the authority of a Magistrate.(2)A Magistrate to whom an accused person is forwarded under [section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 (Act 2 of 1974)] [Substituted by Act 6 of 1985.] by a Collector or an Excise Officer empowered under section 77, sub-section (2), may exercise the powers conferred upon a Magistrate by the said section 167.
