January 5th, 2025Ballarat police charge second man with drug trafficking at music fest

Ballarat Divisional Response Unit officers have charged a second man after locating what is alleged to be a traffickable amount of drugs following two separate searches at the Beyond the Valley music festival in Barunah Plains during the week.

Officers had intercepted a 28-year-old South Yarra man at the festival and conducted a search about 1.45pm on Monday December 30.

Police seized what is alleged to be 17 MDMA pills, four grams of cocaine, and seven other pills believed to be drugs of dependence.

He has been charged with traffick cocaine and MDMA, and was bailed to appear before the Geelong Magistrates’ Court on March 12, 2025.

Police also searched a 27-year-old Rippleside man at the festival about 5.25pm on the same day, seizing what is alleged to be 27 grams of cocaine and 15 grams of ketamine.

He has been charged with traffick cocaine and ketamine, and was bailed to appear before the Geelong Magistrates’ Court on March 12, 2025.

Police continued to have a highly visible presence at the Beyond the Valley music festival that was held at Barunah Plains south of Ballarat over December 28-January 1.

Under the new legislation, it is not a criminal offence to possess small amounts of illicit drugs if you are attending a drug-checking place as a client.

As a result, officers were not attending these sites at the festival unless responding to incidents requiring police attendance.

In a report issued during the week, Victoria Police stated that it “has zero tolerance for drug traffickers and officers will have no hesitation arresting and charging someone for this offence, no matter where it occurs”.

This story based on a Victria Police report