Singer Nicki Minaj is in police custody in Amsterdam after being arrested after drugs were reportedly found in her luggage just hours before she is due to perform in Manchester, according to a spokesperson for Netherlands border police.
“At this moment she is in custody,” said Robert van Kapel, a spokesperson for Royal Netherlands Marechaussee, the border police in charge of Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport, told The Independent.
Although Kapel did not name Minaj, who went live on Instagram while Amsterdam police were attempting to take her into custody, he said he “can confirm we have arrested a 41 year old American because we did a check at Schiphol Airport and found soft drugs with her and it’s illegal to export soft drugs in the Netherlands.”
Minaj is 41 years old. The Netherlands classifies marijuana, which is legal in the country, as “soft drugs” and Minaj revealed in her video that her bag contained pre-rolled joints that she said belonged to someone else.
“At this moment she is in interrogation and we are doing an investigation,” said Kapel. He noted that following the police investigation, they will be in contact with public prosectuors who will then decide to press charges or not.
In Minaj’s Instagram video, an official can be heard saying they wanted to arrest her for "carrying drugs," an allegation that she denied.
An official tells Minaj that her bags were initially subjected to a "random quick check," but that police wanted to do a full search. When she asked why, she was told that an officer "doesn't believe that you don't have more with you than you say," noting that her decision to film the search made the officer suspicious.
Minaj initially refused to go with police.
“I’m not going in there. I need a lawyer present," she told the officer.
After some back and forth, Minaj eventually relents and enters a police vehicle.
During her transport, she told the officers she was worried she might not be able to make her next show. The officer assured her that they would "try to get [her] there" as soon as possible.
The police encounter occurred during Minaj's Pink Friday 2 World Tour. She has a show scheduled for Saturday night in Manchester, England, and had performed in Amsterdam, the first stop on her European tour, the day prior.
On Saturday Ms Minaj provided some details of her encounter; she said that police "said they found weed & that another group of ppl have to come here to weigh the pre-rolls" — referencing pre-rolled marijuana joints that are typically bought in stores.
"Keep in mind they took my bags without consent. My security has already advised them those pre-rolls belong to him," she wrote on X. "Oh yea & the pilot wants me to take my [Instagram] post down."
She later said she had to make a statement about her security personnel at a police precinct.
At approximately 11am EST, Minaj wrote that her plane had scheduled to depart “two hours ago.”
Fans have already scrambled to start selling their tickets in anticipation of a cancellation of tonight’s Manchester show.
“I’m selling 2x tickets for Nicki Minaj tonight at Co-op Live, Manchester. If interested, Please send me a dm,” one person wrote on X, accoring to The Mirror.
Minaj also blamed her former management for her travel woes, accusing them of adding “30-50k on my jet & pocketing it.” She claimed their goal was to “make me late & to pocket 40k” by forcing her to miss one flight and book another jet.
“Jealousy is a disease. You know the rest,” she wrote.
Saturday’s show is Minaj’s first in Manchester this year. Late last year, Minaj added a second date to Manchester — 30 May — citing an overwhelming demand for her first show.
The rapper set ticket sale records with her Pink Friday 2 World Tour. It’s not only the higest grossing tour of her career, but according Billboard Boxscore, the tour grossed $67m and sold 439,000 tickets, making it the highest grossing and bestselling rap tour by a woman in the history of Boxscore.
Minaj will play in Birmingham on Sunday and London on Tuesday before her second Manchester show on 30 May.
