American rapper Nicki Minaj revealed on social media on Saturday that she was detained at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport on allegations of possessing soft drugs. Interestingly, Minaj, who is upset about the incident, filmed herself seemingly getting arrested for carrying drugs while traveling from Amsterdam to Manchester for her next Pink Friday 2 Tour show.
Despite vehemently denying that she was carrying drugs, the 41-year-old rapper was told that she needed to go to the police station, as shown in footage captured during an Instagram Live. In the recording, a man explained to her that she would get a lawyer at the office and they would go as fast as possible.
Minaj Records Own Arrest
During the Instagram Live, the ‘Anaconda’ hitmaker said she was told to get into the police van and go to the precinct with no lawyer present. She also alleged that someone working for airport security requested her to make a ‘statement with no lawyer present’ after finding pre-rolls in bags that they were not authorized to take.
It is currently unclear if she was booked at a police station.
A spokesperson for the police in the Netherlands confirmed to NBC News that they “arrested a 41-year-old American woman at Schiphol Airport because of possession of soft drugs.” They did not identify Minaj, or anyone else by name, as the person arrested.
Before the alleged arrest, Minaj shared a series of posts on X (previously known as Twitter) about her bags getting pulled for a thorough search at the airport.
“They’ve been trying everything they possibly can to TRY to stop this tour,” she wrote in one tweet, before theorizing that they were trying to “plant things” in her luggage.
She also shared footage on her Instagram of a man telling her that police needed to take a closer look at her luggage.
In the clip, an airline crew member told her that a police officer had instructed them to “offload all the luggage and to search everything.”
“I’m so sorry to say that,” he continued.
She, then, asked: “But wasn’t that what you planned on doing from the get-go? Why didn’t you guys search it before it went on the plane?”
“They did just a random quick check, but now they want to open it,” he insisted.
After she asked why, he replied: “First of all, because you filmed him… [and] … he doesn’t believe you that you don’t have more with you than you say.”
“No, he asked me ‘Do I have any more in those purses’ and I said, ‘No,’ and I asked him where are my bags,” Minaj said. “They took my bags and put them on the plane before I could know what bags are on the plane.”
Unnecessary Ruckus
The airline crew member simply said he was “so sorry for that.”
“Okay, of course,” she said before the video ended.
In Minaj’s caption, she wrote “they took my bags before I could see them” then “put it on the plane.” “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,” she wrote.
The problems Minaj encountered at the airport in the Netherlands caused her to miss that evening’s concert in the UK. After arriving in Manchester, she posted a statement on X apologizing to fans for her failure to appear onstage that evening.