Police Praise Well Behaved Splendour-Goers, Despite 92 Drug Arrests and Multiple Flares

Police have praised Splendour-goers for their good behaviour over the weekend, despite over 160 punters being caught with illegal drugs and a handful igniting banned flares.

92 people were arrested on drug-related charges after catching the noses of the sniffer dogs, while 75 more were slapped with “cannabis cautions”. All up, the cops seized 468 grams of illicit substances.

“Police work closely with Splendour organisers to ensure the festival is safe and fun, and we are pleased the overwhelming majority of revellers were well-behaved all weekend,” Tweed/Byron Local Area Commander, Acting Superintendent Gary Cowan said in a statement.

“I am disappointed there were still some people who ignored our advice and tried to bring illegal drugs past the drug-detection dogs and through the gates,” he continued. “We arrested a number of people with large amounts of drugs and, in court, we will allege these people were planning to sell the drugs inside the festival.”

Among the arrests, a 21-year-old woman was taken into custody after police allegedly found 123 tablets of M-D-M-A and cocaine in a re-sealable bag.

While two men, both aged 18, were arrested after police allegedly caught them with a tin containing 398 cardboard squares in plastic bags, believed to be LSD tabs.

Another 19-year-old man booked himself a date in court, after police allegedly recovered 92 MDMA tablets, 26 LSD tabs and 35 grams of cannabis.

A number of Splendour-goers were also treated for a range of injuries, with police saying alcohol and illegal drugs were a big factor in many of the cases.

Another troubling trend was the predominance of dangerous flares at the festival, which if you didn’t know are (quite sensibly) banned by organisers.

The fiery menaces, which have a bit of a tendency to injure people, were set off at the Amphitheatre stage during sets by The Dandy Warhols, Tame Impala and Blur.

As triple j reports, the flares were ignited during more famous festival sing-alongs, including the Warhols’ Bohemian Like You,Tame Impala’s Feels Like We Only Go Backwards and Blur’s Song 2.

It’s unknown at this stage whether any of the injuries treated by Splendour paramedics were related to the flares, or if any of the offending punters have been arrested or charged. However Splendour organisers have made the following statement, regarding the Dandy Warhols’ incident alone, to triple j:

“…It was a hand held flare (not a flare gun) and was dropped shortly after it was lit.”

“Event security quickly jumped the barrier, located the flare and extinguished it. The perpetrator was located and handed over to Police. No patrons were injured.”

Of course, trouble-makers were in the minority, with more than thirty thousand well-behaved music lovers making the most of the festival despite the wet, muddy conditions.

For all of the latest, news, reviews and galleries from Splendour, head to our Splendour In The Grass 2015 Feed.