Police arrest 27 at BoomTown Fair

An estimated £130,000 of drugs have been seized by police at a festival in Hampshire at the weekend.

A total of 121 people were dealt with for possession offences and 27 were arrested at the BoomTown Fair near Winchester.

In 2011, a 45-year-old woman died at the festival after an Ecstasy overdose.

A spokeswoman for the festival said they had worked closely with the police and were pleased so many drugs had been kept away from the event.

Det Ch Insp Tim Rowlandson, who led the team at the 20,000 capacity music festival, said: "We will continue to work with the organisers of BoomTown to look at additional ways to limit opportunities to bring drugs into the festival next year.

"I hope the success of the search operation this year, together with the visible policing presence on site, will influence the actions of those attending future events."

A spokeswoman for BoomTown Fair said they appreciated the volume of drugs seized appeared large but said it was down to a small number of people bringing drugs they intended to sell.

She added: "BoomTown wishes to utilise the influential position the festival has within youth culture to help combat the general mindset about drug taking."