Northern Territory Police apprehended two young women yesterday evening after they absconded from quarantine in Howard Springs a few hours earlier.

The teenagers from Katherine were nearing the end of their quarantine period and had returned negative test results on their most recent COVID-19 test. They absconded from the centre at 3:30pm.

Police resources used to locate the pair included general duties officers, drone, the dog operations unit and CCTV operators.

Police apprehended the 16-year-old girls in Bakewell around 7pm and they were taken back to Howard Springs.

Incident Controller Acting Commander Virginia Read said, “The girls were actively avoiding police, however we were able to locate them through the great work by several different units and the CCTV operators.

“Their COVID-19 tests have all been negative and while we believe they were not infectious, their actions clearly contravened the Chief Health Officer’s Directions.”