Almost 250 punters were collectively charged at various Stereosonic festivals held in Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide this weekend with the majority of offences being drug related.
On top of the reported 120 Melbourne festival-goers that were busted by Victorian police, another 103 were arrested on 111 charges by Queensland police, according to the Brisbane Times, with officers seizing ecstasy, cocaine, cannabis, methamphetamines, GHB and cash suspected of being from the sale of dangerous drugs.
This marks a distinct increase in Stereosonic Brisbane arrests from last year, when around 70 people were arrested on both drug and public nuisance offences. Additionally this year, 15 people were taken to hospital by paramedics during festival and, according to the Queensland Ambulance Service, 11 of those punter experienced “an altered level of consciousness”.
South Australia police were on the whole impressed by the crowd at the Adelaide leg of the festival, having only arrested a total of ten people over event’s two days. Of those arrests, one 19-year-old man was charged with trafficking a controlled drug after drug detection dogs found him in possession of 50 ecstasy pills. He will face the state magistrate court in the coming weeks, along with the other charged punters.
Police charged 221 revellers with drug offences at Sydney’s Stereosonic event last weekend, which was also the stage of an ugly all-in-brawl between fans. Amateur footage of the fight shows a number of punters attacking each other, including one man being kicked repeatedly in head.
