Ian Douglass Butler, 32, and Michael Kobena Kusi-Appauh, 22, were caught with MDMA capsules and LSD tablets as they tried to enter the Secret Garden music festival at Brownlow Hill on the opening evening of event on February 26.

Wollongong Local Court heard the pair were in a car with two female friends when the vehicle was randomly selected to be searched by security guards at the entrance to the event.

The guards found nothing of interest in the vehicle until they came across a large esky containing a jar of blue Powerade powder.

Inside the container, guards found a resealable plastic bag containing 14 MDMA capsules and two LSD tablets.

Both Butler and Kusi-Appauh initially denied any knowledge of the bag and its contents, however eventually made admissions to carrying the drugs, saying they’d purchased them and had planned to consume them inside the venue.

Both men were charged with drug possession and ordered to front court on Tuesday.

Their lawyer, Matt Russoniello, said the pair were normally upstanding citizens who had no prior criminal records.

He said the behaviour was out of character for both men.

Magistrate Mark Douglass accepted the submissions made on behalf of Butler and Kusi-Appauh, noting while they had both made “a very serious mistake”, they deserved a second chance.

He found the offences proven but did not record convictions against either man.