Over 150 Field Day attendees arrested for drug-related offences
More than 150 attendees at Sydney’s Field Day festival were caught trying to sneak in illicit drugs despite numerous recent overdose deaths.
The recent spate of drug-related deaths at Aussie festivals have done nothing to deter revellers from trying to sneak illicit substances in Sydney’s Field Day music festival, with more than 150 people arrested for drug offences.
Around 28,000 festival-goers descended on the Domain yesterday to attend the popular New Year’s Day celebration.
There was a strong police presence at the event, with officers from the Dog Unit, Licensing Police, and Police Transport Command targeting anti-social behaviour, alcohol-related crime, and illegal drug use and supply.
NSW Police released a stern warning about drug use ahead of the festival, but it seems to have fallen on deaf ears.
“Those thinking of bringing substances into the event are reminded there will be uniformed and plain-clothed police patrolling the festival, which will include the use of drug-detection dogs,” Detective Chief Inspector Stuart Bell said in a statement on Monday.
A drug dog operation at the festival saw 149 people arrested for drug possession and six people charged with drug supply offences.
MDMA and ketamine were among the illicit substances people were found to have in their possession, with three festival-goers found carrying 120 MDMA capsules between them.
A 19-year-old Eagle Vale man was allegedly found with 55 capsules of MDMA and was charged with two counts of supply of a prohibited drug along with dealing with the proceeds of a crime.
A 21-year-old man from Kellyville Ridge was allegedly caught carrying 40 MDMA capsules and was charged with assaulting police along with supply of a prohibited drug.
An 18-year-old Berkeley Vale woman was charged with supply of a prohibited drug after allegedly being caught with 25 MDMA capsules in her possession.
All three were granted bail and are set to face court in either January or February.
Several people were also charged with assault and 41 were kicked out of the festival for being drunk.
A 21-year-old Miami man is one of the attendees facing assault charges, following the alleged assault of a 20-year-old woman at about 6.30pm yesterday.
Four out of the five people taken to hospital from the festival were experiencing drugs-related health issues, NSW police said.
The drug possession arrests came just a day after a another person died from a suspected drug overdose at a Victorian music festival.
A 20-year-old man died in hospital on Tuesday, four days after the Beyond The Valley event in Lardner, east of Melbourne.
It was the fifth death of a music festival-goer in Australia in about five months.
The spate of recent festival deaths has brought back painful memories for one Melbourne mum, who is calling for the introduction of pill testing.
Adriana Buccianti knows only too well the dangers that come with taking drugs at festivals, after her son Daniel overdosed at the Rainbow Serpent Festival in Western Victoria in 2012.
Daniel was 34 when he died and since his death, Ms Buccianti has become an advocate for pill testing, a measure she believes could have saved her son’s life.
“My son would have never, ever wanted to come out of that festival in a body bag,” she told theABC.
“I think it’s more about protecting themselves from themselves, really. Because (taking drugs) seems to be a rite of passage.”
But despite the growing calls for pill testing, both the NSW and Victorian governments remain strongly opposed to the idea.
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