SA man taken to secure Perth InterContinental after NYE quarantine breach

An international traveller who breached mandatory hotel quarantine by leaving his room late on New Year’s Eve has been arrested and transferred to the high-security InterContinental.

Police officers — who have been temporarily based at all of Perth’s quarantine hotels while security guards receive appropriate training in physical restraint — intercepted the 25-year-old South Australian man in the lobby at around 10.45pm.

The arrest came after guards warned police the man had left his room and was refusing to return.

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The man was approved to enter WA as an Australian citizen returning from working overseas and arrived in Perth on December 26 on a flight from Dubai.

He appeared in the Perth Magistrates Court today charged with breaching a quarantine direction and was granted bail ahead of his next appearance on January 11.

Police would not reveal which hotel the breach occurred at.

The incident happened less than a week after returned international traveller Jenny D’Ubios breezed past security guards on her way out of the Pan Pacific Hotel on Boxing Day before boarding a bus on Adelaide Terrace and evading police for the next 12 hours, which included visits to Fremantle and Rockingham.

That incident prompted a snap review of WA’s hotel quarantine system, which resulted in security guards being authorised to physically restrain guests who attempt to leave.

Police have been stationed at each of Perth’s nine quarantine hotels while appropriately-trained crowd controllers are recruited and existing guards receive training.

Physical barriers will also be erected to prevent returned travellers from absconding while a “risk-matrix” is being developed to better identify flight risks for placement in WA’s only police-manned quarantine hotel.