A 22-year-old man caught with an alleged 396 pills containing MDMA and methamphetamine is one of dozens of people facing drug charges after yesterday’s Defqon1 dance music festival in Penrith.
Officers from the North West Metropolitan Region and the Police Dog Unit ran a major operation at the festival, which kicked off at 11am Saturday and attracted close to 24,000 punters.
The operation – which was intended to target “anti-social behaviour, drug and alcohol offences” – saw a total of 45 people arrested and charged, eight with supply offences and 37 with possession.
The unnamed 22-year-old, a German national, was set to appear at Parramatta Bail Court today, on charges relating to the supply of a prohibited drug and breach of bail.
Police at Defqon1 also charged a man who allegedly had 200 pills, and a woman who was allegedly in possession of 87; in both cases, the pills were believed to be MDMA.
A total of 30 traffic infringement notices were also issued.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZGto0lA2qS/?taken-by=defqon1au
Last year’s Defqon1 saw 77 people arrested for drug offences, and the 2015 event was marred by the tragic death of 26-year-old Albury man Nigel Pauljevic, who was found unconscious in a festival tent late in the evening.
His death followed that of 23-year-old James Munro, who died of a suspected drug overdose at the 2013 event. Munro is thought to have taken three pills he believed to be ecstasy, before going into a series of cardiac arrests.
