January 4th, 2025Man charged with drug trafficking at Barunah Plains music festival

Ballarat Divisional Response Unit officers have charged a man after locating what is alleged to be a traffickable amount of drugs on him at the Beyond the Valley music festival in Barunah Plains, south of Ballarat, earlier this week.

Officers intercepted the 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 maintained a highly visible presence at the Beyond the Valley music festival which ran from Saturday December 28 to Wednesday January 1.

This included officers patrolling the festival grounds in an effort to ensure safety and security of festival goers and deter criminal activity or anti-social behaviour.

Victoria Police, in a report issued on Monday, said they were aware a drug-checking place was operating at the festival.

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 unless responding to incidents requiring police attendance.

However police said they would continue to enforce against drug offences away from the drug-checking place and seize any illicit substances.

This story based on a Victoria Police report