A Queensland couple have been arrested and charged in New South Wales after using a ute that was allegedly stolen from a car dealership in north Queensland to ram police cars at Tweed Heads in northern New South Wales.
New South Wales Police said that about 2:00pm on Saturday, highway police were notified about a stolen Holden Colorado travelling south on the Pacific Highway.
Police began chasing the car but soon gave up for safety reasons.
The ute was later spotted in an underground car park in Tweed Heads.
New South Wales officers blocked the driveway with two police cars and approached the stolen vehicle.
They said a 20-year-old Mackay man, whose licence had been suspended, allegedly drove the ute at police and smashed it into their car.
Police said the driver reversed before smashing onto a second police car and driving off.
The car was found abandoned and an 18-year-old woman was arrested nearby.
The man was later arrested at a Tweed Heads hospital.
Police alleged the car was stolen from a Mackay dealership last Wednesday, then driven without proper number plates to Tweed Heads, more than 1,000km away.
The woman was charged for being a passenger in a stolen car, while the man was charged with six offences relating to allegedly stealing a car, evading police, using a weapon to avoid arrest and other offences.
Both were remanded in custody and are expected to appear in court in Lismore on Monday.
It's unclear whether the couple crossed into New South Wales before or after the border closed at 1:00am on Saturday.
More than 150 vehicles denied entry
Since the Queensland border was closed to traffic from New South Wales, only residents in approved postcodes are permitted to travel into Queensland.
Queensland residents returning home are required to fly into the state and pay for their hotel quarantine, at a cost of about $200 a night.
As of this morning, police had checked 5,596 vehicles at the border, and 159 vehicles had been turned around, since the road crossing was closed to unauthorised travellers.
Queensland Police said they were not pursuing the couple for extradition as they have been charged in New South Wales.
Due to the pandemic, interstate police have been making border exchanges of prisoners, although it's not clear how that would work under the new border restrictions that came into effect on Saturday.
