A 20-year-old woman has allegedly been arrested with a staggering 879 MDMA caps in Sydney over the weekend. Mary Naioko has been refused bail at Parramatta Local Court. The event took place at the Hordern Pavilion, where four people allegedly overdosed at a rave back in October.
The event was apparently one of the most drug-reliant of festival season yet, with 35 charges on drug offences (out of 5000 people in attendance), including seizing 103 capsules from a 19-year-old male, and a further 200 found on a 21-year-old male. The pair of men have been charged with supply, and granted bail. Three attendees were also taken to hospital following on-site medical treatment, two of whom have been discharged.
The event itself, Knockout Circuz, was a hardstyle rave arranged by Harder Styles United (HSU). As the Facebook event details, it was the first hardstyle event at the Hordern in three years, and was headlined by Bioweapon, Wasted Penguinz, Code Black and more. A pinned post on the event’s wall warns attendees, “Our crowd is one the best and friendly crowds there is. We take care of one another as we are here for the love of the music. We have hired extra staff to make this event as safe as possible. Police will be conducting an drug detection operation this weekend.”
The festival are yet to make an official statement on the charges.
This is a huge haul, and it’s honestly great to see police targeting (or at least, finding) dealers rather than the countless punters caught out by drug dogs, carrying one spliff or one cap on their person. If we look at the harm rates at the event, it’s relatively minimal, which is also great news; certainly less than what we’ve seen at the currently-touring Stereosonic, which has already tragically taken the lives of two young attendees, one in Sydney, one in Adelaide.
SMH are reporting that all seized drugs will be tested by police. Let’s hope that those results are made publicly available, considering the increasing number of dangerously toxic pills going around, allegedly including the “Snapchats” and “dollar signs” which tragically contributed to the deaths of the two Stereosonic festivalgoers.
Read more: We really, really need drug testing at festivals. Here’s why.
Read even more: The reality of drugs at festivals