“Section 139(1) of the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 gave customs officers power to detain goods only where they were ‘liable to forfeiture’ in the sense that the relevant facts empowering the court to order forfeiture actually existed; it was not enough that the relevant officer reasonably suspected that such facts might exist in respect of goods which were under investigation.”
WLR Daily, 20th January 2012
Source: www.iclr.co.uk