Qld border breach: Police investigating three men who ‘entered state illegally’

Three men have illegally entered Queensland after allegedly lying on their border declaration passes after coming from Melbourne, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk revealed in her Tuesday address. An investigation is now underway as one of the three men is showing symptoms of Covid-19.

The Queensland police deputy commissioner Steve Gollschewski confirmed that the trio entered Queensland via the New South Wales border at the Coolangatta checkpoint on August 2. They allegedly had a pass that declared they hadn’t visited a hotspot despite coming from Victoria through the Greater Sydney region, both of which are deemed coronavirus hotspots by Queensland Health.

The three men then spent time in Logan before they were discovered on August 3 after testing proved they had been exposed to Melburnians. One of the three men is now showing symptoms of the virus while all three await their results in hotel quarantine. All three men have been issued an order to appear in court at a later date.

“It’s really, really disappointing that, given where Victoria is at the moment … that people in our community are still telling lies and deliberately trying to mislead the system so they can get back into our state,” Gollschewski said. “The fact that they have been in Victoria is something of grave concern to all of our community. What we really need people to do is to disclose that.”

The alleged border breach comes after three women lied to enter the Queensland border after coming from Melbourne. They then failed to self-isolate for eight days before two of them tested positive to coronavirus.

According to Queensland Police, all three women have been charged with providing false or misleading documents which is a maximum penalty of $13,345 and fraud which is a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment. The women will face the Brisbane Magistrates Court on September 28.

More than 1.3 million border passes have been issued so far in Queensland however not all of those have been used. In total, 70 people have been refused entry and 23 have been placed into quarantine. In the last week alone, 10 people have been charged with giving false declarations at the border.