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Police arrest 34 Glastonbury travellers
06-21-07|Guardian Unlimited|James Orr

Hundreds of revellers heading to Glastonbury by rail from London have been subjected to drug searches by police using sniffer dogs and 34 people have been arrested, police said tonight.

The majority of those held during the two-day operation at Paddington station have been arrested for drug offenses, including four for possession with intent to supply.

Around 40 officers from the British transport police have been patrolling the station in a crackdown on efforts to get drugs inside the festival, which starts tomorrow.

A police spokesman said: "Police have been conducting a two-day operation at Paddington station targeting low-level disorder as a large number of people travel through the station to Glastonbury festival.

"The operation started yesterday and involved 40 offices and two drugs dogs. So far, British transport police officers have arrested 34 people, most of them on drug-related offenses. Four of the arrests were for possession with intent to supply."

A team of officers today stationed themselves at the exit to the Hammersmith and City tube line at Paddington station.

Anyone whose luggage sparked interest from the dogs was asked to stop while their belongings were searched.

"They were targeting those carrying rucksacks as they came off the underground and entered the station," said one onlooker. "You couldn't help but walk past the dogs in order to get onto the platforms."

More than 80,000 people were already setting up camp at the festival in the Mendip Hills in Somerset today.

In total, some 180,000 visitors are expected to travel to the event over the coming days. Forecasters warned they would be "extremely lucky" to avoid heavy rain and thunderstorms during the event.

Organizer Michael Eavis said he believed his Worthy Farm site would avoid the worst of the weekend's wet weather.

In 2005, the last time the festival took place, some 183 drug offenses were reported, up from 76 the previous year. But officers, who said offenders were largely held for using ecstasy and cannabis, claimed the rise was due to more pro-active policing.

This year, about 2,000 acts are booked to play in the Somerset valley over three days.

Arctic Monkeys, the Killers and The Who are among the headlining acts while other bands include Kasabian, the Kooks, Paul Weller, Kaiser Chiefs, the Chemical Brothers and Amy Winehouse.

Tickets for the festival were snapped up within one hour and 45 minutes of going on sale in April.

 

reggie_the_dog

These cops have a directive telling them to presume against arresting people for cannabis, so they stop people going to a rock festival and bust them for cannabis, bloody wankers. I have smoked in the street every time I went to the UK thinking that a presumption against arrest was just that, a presumption against arrest.