Police have charged a man for breaching Covid-19 restrictions after he flew from Whangarei to Queenstown on the first day of the latest Alert Level 3.
Authorities have summoned the 41-year-old man to the Whangarei District Court for failing to comply with a Covid-19 order in relation to travelling to Queenstown, via Wellington, on October 9.
The Northern Advocate reported police had been investigating how the man was able to travel from Whangarei Airport to Queenstown without any of the documents required in Level 3.
Police said he was ‘‘travelling for employment’’ when he reportedly caught the first commercial flight out of Whangarei at 12.25pm on October 9 — the first day of Northland’s snap lockdown.
Aviation Security Service officials travelling from Auckland narrowly missed the man in the terminal, by about 15 minutes.
The man stayed overnight at a hotel near Wellington Airport before catching a morning flight to Queenstown.
He has since been self-isolating and has returned a negative Covid-19 test.
As the matter was before the court, police declined further comment.
