Media release

COVID-19 – Summons to Appear

Police

Northern Territory Police have issued summons to appear for two men in relation to fraud and COVID-19 offences committed in the Northern Territory last month.

 The two men, aged 49 and 38, entered the Northern Territory (NT) from Victoria on 14 September 2021. On arrival they completed a border entry form and agreed to self-quarantine and COVID testing. Investigations later found that while waiting for the results of the test they did not self-isolate. 

Both men have allegedly fraudulently submitted falsified documents to obtain drivers licences and open bank accounts in the NT.

On 22 September 2021, both men have travelled from Darwin into Western Australia allegedly claiming to be NT residents.

 WA Police later arrested the men for COVID-19 breaches, where they were both remanded until 13 October 2021.

 Northern Territory Serious Crime Detectives have completed their investigation and summons have been issued for the two men for the following offences:

  • Contravention of emergency declaration
  • Give false name/misleading information
  • Knowingly utter forged document
  • Criminal deception obtain benefit

They are due to appear in Darwin Local Court on 16 November 2021.

Incident Controller Commander Sachin Sharma said, “Police will allege that both these men have gone to great lengths to circumvent the Chief Health Officers directions, designed to keep our community safe, and in doing so have committed serious crimes. To selfishly put yourself above the rest of Australia just to attend a football match is quite frankly staggering and they will face court for it.  

 “NT Police have been working in conjunction with WA Police and investigations into this incident are still on-going. I would like to reassure the community that these men did not arrive from a hotspot in Victoria and have since retuned negative COVID test results. There is no risk to the Northern Territory community and the police will continue to have a zero tolerance approach for any such activities. ”