Nicki Minaj Astrida Valigorsky/WireImage
UPDATE: 5/25 5:22 p.m. ET — Nicki Minaj was released from police custody after her brief arrest at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam.
The Royal Netherlands Marechaussee shared via X that “a 41-year-old American woman” (presumed to be Minaj) had been arrested under suspicion of transporting “soft drugs,” or marijuana, out of the country. She was fined an unspecified amount of money and released after police officials consulted with public prosecutors.
Minaj was scheduled to perform at Co-Op Live in Manchester, England on Saturday, but the show has now been postponed. “Despite Nicki’s best efforts to explore every possible avenue to make tonight’s show happen, the events of today have made it impossible,” the venue wrote in a statement via X.
Original story:
Nicki Minaj was placed under arrest at an airport in Amsterdam after marijuana was allegedly found in her luggage.
Minaj, 41, was stopped outside of an airport in Amsterdam on Saturday, May 25, as she was preparing to fly to Manchester, England, for the next concert on her Pink Friday 2 Tour after marijuana pre-rolls were allegedly found in her luggage. The rapper took to both Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) to record the encounter and claim that the incident was an attempt to “sabotage” the remainder of her tour.
“They’ve been trying to stop me from coming to every show,” Minaj wrote in the caption of a video shared via Instagram Saturday morning. “They took my bags before I could see them. Put it on the plane. Now saying they’re waiting on customs. This is what it looks like when ppl are paid big money to try to sabotage a tour after all else failed. Everything they’ve done is illegal.”
In the video, Minaj is told that a police officer has instructed them to “offload all the luggage and to search everything” for a more thorough inspection after airport security had performed a “random quick check” of her luggage before boarding.
The “Starships” songstress also claimed this was an attempt to try and “make [her] book another jet.” She wrote via X, “All b/c I fired mngmnt who I found out for years were adding on 30-50K on my jet & pocketing it. I fired a tour mngr recently who was doing the same thing & mad he got the boot. Their goal is to make me late, & to pocket 40K.”
In footage shared by Minaj via Instagram Live, authorities attempted to take the “Super Bass” rapper into custody for “carrying drugs,” urging her to climb into a police vehicle. “I’m not going in there,” Minaj said in the video. “I need a lawyer present.” Eventually, after the officers said she was under arrest, Minaj voluntarily entered the van.
“I told y’all they was gonna try to stall for about four to five hours because it’s all about trying to make me late to my show,” she said while still streaming from inside the police vehicle.
Minaj alleged via X that the pre-rolls belonged to her security. She also claimed that “this is how they plant things in your luggage” with regards to the search, which she said delayed her flight by two hours.
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“Not they said I have to go 5 mins away to make a statement about my security to the police precinct,” Minaj wrote via X on Saturday morning. She has not shared any further updates.
According to the United States Department of State, which offers information about traveling within and out of the Netherlands, marijuana and hashish are considered “controlled substances.” While it is legal to use, for example, in the “coffee shops” frequented by tourists in Amsterdam, it is “illegal to take any controlled substance, such as marijuana, into or out of the Netherlands.”
Us Weekly reached out to Minaj’s rep for comment.