Two new Top End arrivals to face court for allegedly lying about hotspot travel when entering NT

TWO men who arrived in the Top End this week have been accused of lying on their stat decs when entering the NT, an offence which carries heavy penalties, including three years in jail

Two men who arrived in the Territory this week have been accused of lying on their statutory declarations when entering the NT, an offence which carries heavy penalties, including three years in jail. Picture: Che Chorley

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TWO men who flew into the Northern Territory this week have been accused of lying on their statutory declarations when entering the NT, an offence which carries heavy penalties, including three years in jail.

A police investigation has revealed the 25-year-old and a 54-year-old had allegedly been in Sydney within 14 days of entering the NT.

The duo travelled to Nhulunbuy on Tuesday on a flight from the Australian Capital Territory via Queensland.

It is alleged both falsely declared they had not been in a designated hotspot.

Both men were taken into police custody in Nhulunbuy and placed in quarantine pending being transported to the Howard Springs quarantine facility via the Police Airwing.

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The two men were questioned by police on Wednesday in relation to their travel and discrepancies were identified.

Further investigations revealed the men had been in Sydney in the past fortnight.

Both men were taken into police custody in Nhulunbuy and placed in quarantine.

They have both since returned negative results to COVID-19.

The men have each been issued with a notice to appear in court on Monday, August 10, for failing to abide by the Chief Health Officer’s directions under section 56 of the Public and Environmental Health Act 2011, and for allegedly making a false declaration pursuant to section 119 of the Criminal Code Act (NT) 1983.

Incident Controller Commander Matt Hollamby said the actions of the men were grossly irresponsible.

“These individuals potentially placed the lives of Territorians at risk,” he said.

“Due to the diligent work of NT Police and the systems in place to protect Territorians this serious breach of COVID-19 restrictions was discovered quickly.

“The men were spoken to at their nominated private address before being taken into custody.

“The actions of the men comes at a significant cost and an unnecessary use of resources. NT police will now complete a deep clean of the Nhulunbuy Police Station and a police aircraft.

“NT Police remind people travelling to the Northern Territory from declared hot spots, that should you still decide to come to the NT, you will be sent to a mandatory quarantine facility at your own cost.

“If you lie on your entry declaration you may face heavy penalties including three years in jail.”

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Separately, a 50-year-old man who recently arrived from Western Australia after being in Victoria within 14 days of his arrival has also been issued an infringement.

The man was not at his residence in the Darwin rural area when police conducted compliance checks.

NT Police say their officers and Environmental Health officers are continuing to undertake COVID-19 compliance activities.

The infringement penalty for failing to abide by the Chief Health Officer directions is $5,056 for an individual and $25,280 for a business.

To date 29,395 compliance checks have now been completed and 144 fines issued.

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