A Good Friday party cruise was shut down just two hours after the event kicked off. NSW Police issued a short term closure order to the operator of the boat hosting the party – the first order of its kind ever issued by police.

As Fairfax reports, police shut down the Dirty Funken Beats cruise after receiving reports of punters “yelling and swearing” at those on shore. When the boat docked, two punters were arrested after a fight broke out.

Meanwhile, four men were hospitalised following an adverse reaction to ecstasy. While InTheMix reports that all four have since left hospital, the men — two 21-year-olds and a 25- and 22-year-old — were initially admitted to intensive care at St Vincent’s Hospital.

“These four men are lucky they didn’t end up in the morgue,” said marine area commander acting Superintendent Joe McNulty. One of the men is suspected of taking up to four ecstasy pills in one hit, including the notorious ‘blue scissor’ pills.

Police believe he and possibly the others had ingested blue pills with a scissors stamp, similar to those linked to overdoses of three men and a woman in Cronulla last November. Following these incidents, police issued their urgent short-term closure order.

The order was issued to the Bellavista, a boat operated by Sydney party crew Dirty Funken Beats, which forced the operator to close for 72 hours while inquiries continue. However, on his Facebook page Christian Avant, the man behind Dirty Funken Beats, said the crew’s events are far from over.

“We have a zero drug tolerance at DFB and this is heavily stated in our posts, flyers and on the tickets,” Avant wrote in a statement. “We have identified those involved in Friday’s misdemeanour and have subsequently banned them for life from every DFB event.”

According to Fairfax, police said this was not the first time that DFB had come to their notice. After receiving a tip-off, police searched passengers, the wharf, and the surrounding area using three sniffer dogs, instead of the usual one.

Police detected only small amounts of drugs, including marijuana, cocaine, and ecstasy, before the boat sailed at midday from King Street Wharf. Just over two hours later, the Bellavista returned to shore following reports of disruptive passengers.

[include_post id=”435127″]

After docking at the Man O’War steps, two men were arrested and charged with assaulting police, and the four young men were taken to St Vincent’s Hospital. Superintendent McNulty said police were concerned with how the drugs came on board.

“It is the young people in the community we are concerned about, and their access to drugs, and their choice,” he said. “There is no control over where these drugs were made; it is organised crime supplying these drugs.”

“The clear message is don’t take these drugs: they are not safe. Four men ended up in intensive car unit and it was touch and go. These drugs are made by organised crime syndicates just wanting to profit from the youth of our community.”

Police said they were coming down particularly hard on Dirty Funken Beats because there had been several similar incidents in the past few years.

I've received almost 200 supportive messages since Friday from friends and fans of DFB. Thank you so much, it means a…

Posted by Christian Avant on Saturday, April 4, 2015

Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture.
to Rolling Stone magazine
to Rolling Stone magazine