Police arrest man for breach of COVID direction, South Australia

Police have arrested a man following an alleged breach of a COVID-19 direction on Friday night.

About 7.15pm on Friday 24 July, police on the Oodla Wirra border checkpoint saw a blue Toyota sedan with blackened out number plates travel at speed and on the wrong side of the Barrier Highway and through the checkpoint without stopping.

Police followed the vehicle and located it a short time later abandoned in bushes off a dirt road.

The alleged driver of the vehicle, a 30-year-old man from Elizabeth Downs, was arrested after he appeared from bushes nearby.

The man was a non-essential traveller who returned to South Australia from New South Wales and was required to quarantine at Elizabeth Park accommodation.

He was charged with failing to comply with quarantine under the Emergency Management Act, driving at a speed dangerous, obscure number plate, driving unlicensed and breach of bail. The driver submitted to a drug test where he provided a positive result for methamphetamine.

The man was refused police bail and will appear before the Port Pirie Magistrates Court on Monday 27 July. The Toyota was impounded for 28 days.

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