77 people have been arrested at Sydney dance festival Defqon.1 for drug-related offences.
The one day electronic music event went down in Penrith yesterday and police have confirmed that there was a police operation that resulted in 77 drug detections including six charged with supply.
In addition to this, the police conducted RBTs as punters attempted to leave the festival. They tested 630 people, picking up eight people for drink driving and a further 44 people for driving under the influence of drugs.
The festival attracted 24,500 punters and throughout the day more than 200 people were treated for heat and drug-related illnesses. Of that, six were taken to Nepean Hospital for further treatment.
Last year a 26 year-old man died at Defqon. Arrests have, however, risen since last year with the police arresting 46 people for drug-related offences in 2015.
This year, Bondi-based firm Gorval Lynch offered Defqon punters a free 20 minute consultation if they were caught with drugs at the festival.
“If you are detained, stopped or charged by the police DO NOT say anything until you have spoken to us first,” they wrote on their Facebook page.
The director of the company Serge Gorval told the Daily Mail that they were not encouraging drug use rather informing people what, “their legal rights are”.
