Extra police officers deployed to border at Coolangatta-Tweed Heads

An extra 25 cops have been deployed to the Queensland border with NSW in a blitz on pedestrians dodging police checkpoints.

Police have begun a blitz on pedestrians strolling back and forth across the border at Coolangatta-Tweed Heads.

An extra 25 officers arrived on the Gold Coast on Wednesday to launch the crackdown and pedestrians are already being stopped and checked.

It comes after The Courier-Mail’s revelations that dozens of people on foot, pushbikes and even skateboards have been breaching border barriers between Coolangatta and Tweed Heads every day.

Police speak to a pedestrian in Dixon St, Coolangatta, near the Queensland border with NSW. Picture: Greg Stolz

Officers are patrolling Coolangatta backstreets including Dixon St where many people have been crossing back and forth into Tweed Heads in defiance of tough border controls and just a few hundred metres from police checkpoints.

Police Commissioner Katarina Carroll on Tuesday vowed a crackdown and Gold Coast police acting chief superintendent Rhys Wildman said the extra police had been sent from Brisbane to launch a blitz.

“Their sole operation is actually to conduct proactive enforcement activities here … targeting pedestrian movements in and out of the border zone,” he said.

“(To) those persons, if you attempt to enter Queensland without a lawful reason, you do face the $4135 fine (for breaching health directions).

“It’s just not worth coming into Queensland at this point in time if you don’t have to, or don’t have a lawful reason.”