The man, 53, was first pulled over at Adelaide River while driving on the Stuart Hwy at 11.25pm on Wednesday.

The man allegedly tried to flee police when officers saw the same car driving near Katherine at 6.30am Thursday.

Detective Sergeant Ian Kennon said the driver returned a positive methamphetamine test after police allegedly found drug paraphernalia in his vehicle near the Adelaide River township.

“The man was conveyed to the Adelaide River Health Clinic where a further blood sample was obtained,” he said.

Sgt Kennon said the man’s licence was immediately suspended for 24 hours following the positive test.

But within hours, the same man was caught driving again.

“The male attempted to evade apprehension, however, was located and arrested a short time later.”

He was charged with two counts of drug driving, driving while disqualified and failing to stop for police.

He was remanded to appear in the Katherine Local Court on Thursday.

NT Police have increased the focus on drug driving in the past year with the introduction of road side drug testing.

Police have strengthened their drug testing capabilities, introducing machines which identify a range of opioids and amphetamines.

On Thursdya morning, a police blitz on traffic offences in Stuart Park found eight vehicles without registration and with children unrestrained.

An NT Police spokeswoman said police found several motorists returned positive tests out of the 1171 breathalysed but none were over the legal blood alcohol limit.

Seven drivers were drug tested but none returned a positive result.

The blitz ended a two-day operation for Darwin Traffic Operations, providing field training to police recruits for road safety detection and enforcement.

[“source-ndtv”]