Splendour in the Grass: Police charge 42 people after four-day crackdown at music festival

A police crackdown at Splendour in the Grass has seen more than 40 people hit with criminal charges after an assortment of drugs – including MDMA and cannabis – were seized across the four-day blitz.

A police sniffer dog at Splendour in the Grass 2023 in Byron Bay, Australia. Picture: Matt Jelonek/Getty Images

A police crackdown at Splendour in the Grass music festival has seen more than 40 people hit with criminal charges with an assortment of drugs, including MDMA, cannabis, ketamine, ecstasy and meth, seized across the four-day blitz.

Among the most serious offences include two men in their 40s charged with sexually touching another person without consent, while a woman is facing serious drug supply charges.

Police were targeting illicit drug use and supply, alcohol-fuelled violence and anti-social behaviour over the four-day blitz.

A Surfers Paradise man, 40, was charged with sexually touching another person without consent on Saturday. A Victorian man, 43, was also charged with sexually touching another person without consent on Sunday.

A Mooball woman was charged with two counts of supplying a prohibited drug, possessing a prohibited drug, possessing or using a prohibited weapon without a permit and recklessly deal with the proceeds of crime.

The car was located at a campsite.

In the 23-year-old’s car police allegedly located MDMA, cannabis, ketamine, $6500 cash and suspected drug paraphernalia on Saturday July 22.

These people have been granted conditional bail to appear before Byron Bay Local Court in August.

During the operation, police seized drugs including cannabis, MDMA capsules, psilocybin (mushrooms), ecstasy tablets, methylamphetamine and white powder believed to be cocaine with assistance from the Dog Unit.

Overall, 42 court attendance notices were issued along with 36 criminal infringement notices and 31 cannabis cautions.

Tweed/Byron Police District Commander, Superintendent David Roptell, praised the good behaviour of the vast majority of festival goers.

“While most of the attendees were compliant, it’s disappointing that we continue to detect the possession and supply of prohibited drugs,” he said.

“The safety of music fans attending the festival is and continues to be our number one priority, and we make no apology for coming down hard on drug possession and supply.”