Police Confirm Arrests After Large Secret Garden Festival Operation

New South Wales Police have confirmed arresting “numerous” people at the weekend's Secret Garden Festival in Camden.

A large sniffer dog operation welcomed punters at the two-day event, with police arresting six people on the opening day Friday 28 February after searching 21 individuals and six vehicles. At the time police said they expected more charges to be laid and a number of arrests were made on Saturday 1 March as well. In total, 91 people and 33 vehicles were searched.

Among the arrests were a 34-year-old Sydney man for allegedly possessing MDMA and cannabis, a 23-year-old man for allegedly possessing cocaine, a 25-year-old Vaucluse woman for allegedly possessing cocaine and MDMA, a 22-year-old Oakdale man for allegedly possession MDMA and ecstasy and a 22-year-old Rozelle man who police allegedly found with cannabis, MDMA and scales in his accommodation area on Friday.

Police have not released exact numbers, but confirmed 10 arrests and said they issued a number of cautions, all for drug-related offences.

Despite the large police presence, Festival programmer Adam Lewis told theMusic.com.au that the majority of the 6,400 people who attended the festival across the two days were “really well behaved”. He also added that the event “felt pretty incident free,” even though the site at Camden's Brownlow Hill Loop Road was pounded with rain, particularly in the final few hours.

One incident that did occur was during the set of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard. Their set was cut short after eight minutes and the stage closed after the roof collapsed.

“The feedback from punters has been almost unanimously positive,” he said, “which is pretty remarkable given the amount of rain and the fact we had to shut some of the stages at night for safety reasons.”

He added, "Behaviour of the audience was fantastic, people really rallied together and helped each other out in the rain, and the response from punters since the festival has been really positive.

"As far as arrests go, we advised our punters in advance that there would be police there and that we did not condone the use of drugs whatsoever, and we're glad that the overwhelming majority took our advice and enjoyed the festival in a safe and responsible manner."

Selling out before the line-up had even been announced, the 2014 event had assembled an impressive line-up with a number of the country's top young bands, including DZ Deathrays, The Rubens, Papa Vs Pretty and Elizabeth Rose.