(625 ILCS 5/12‑612)
Sec. 12‑612. False or secret compartment in a motor vehicle.
(a) Offenses. It is unlawful for any person to own or operate any motor vehicle he or she knows to contain a false or secret compartment. It is unlawful for any person to knowingly install, create, build, or fabricate in any motor vehicle a false or secret compartment.
(b) Definitions. For purposes of this Section, a "false or secret compartment" means any enclosure that is intended and designed to be used to conceal, hide, and prevent discovery by law enforcement officers of the false or secret compartment, or its contents, and which is integrated into a vehicle. For purpose of this Section, a person's intention to use a false or secret compartment to conceal the contents of the compartment from a law enforcement officer may be inferred from factors including, but not limited to, the discovery of a person, firearm, controlled substance, or other contraband within the false or secret compartment, or from the discovery of evidence of the previous placement of a person, firearm, controlled substance, or other contraband within the false or secret compartment.
(c) Forfeiture. Any motor vehicle containing a false or secret compartment, as well as any items within that compartment, shall be subject to seizure by the Department of State Police or by any municipal or other local law enforcement agency within whose jurisdiction that property is found as provided in Sections 36‑1 and 36‑2 of the Criminal Code of 1961 (720 ILCS 5/36‑1 and 5/36‑2). The removal of the false or secret compartment from the motor vehicle, or the promise to do so, shall not be the basis for a defense to forfeiture of the motor vehicle under Section 36‑2 of the Criminal Code of 1961 and shall not be the basis for the court to release the vehicle to the owner.
(d) Sentence. A violation of this Section is a Class 4 felony.
(Source: P.A. 93‑276, eff. 1‑1‑04.)