Abdul Hamid FJ

(delivering the judgment of the Court): This reference to the Federal Court under section 66(1) of the Courts of Judicature Act, 1964 is for the determination of the following questions of law:—

(1) whether the court, when hearing a summons issued pursuant to section 128(4) of the Customs Act, 1967 can rely on the presumption under section 135(2) of the same Act to determine whether an offence in relation to the conveyance is committed when no prosecution was preferred against any person for any offence under the same Act and when the conveyance could not have been the subject matter of the said summons.

(2) whether the court could, pursuant to section 128(5) of the Customs Act, 1967, invoke the provisions of section 119 of the same Act and shift the burden of proof on to the defendants as owners of the conveyance to show that customs duties on the goods found in the conveyance but belonging to unknown persons had been paid when the subject matter for inquiry under the said summons should only have been goods found in the conveyance.

The facts in so far as they are relevant for the determination of these questions are that on April 11, 1973 three customs officers, a