Nicki Minaj arrested at Amsterdam airport for suspected drug possession

Nicki Minaj was arrested by police at an airport in the Netherlands, according to posts she shared on social media.

The “Barbie World” rapper, whose full name is Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, livestreamed the incident on her Instagram account, filming a police officer telling her that she was “under arrest” for “drug possession” and ordering her to get into a van that he said would take her to the police station.

Reports do not indicate whether she was charged with a crime, but Dutch police said Minaj was fined and allowed to continue her trip, the BBC reported.

In her footage, reposted by a fan account on X (formerly Twitter), Minaj repeatedly denies the allegations and demands a lawyer before finally getting into the van.

“Now they said I had to go five minutes away to give a statement to the police station about my safety,” she wrote on X.

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A representative for Minaj did not immediately respond to Weekly entertainmentPlease leave a comment.

A Dutch police spokesman told NBC News: “We can confirm that we have arrested a 41-year-old American woman at Schiphol Airport for possession of soft drugs.”

The Dutch military police said that travellers are prohibited from taking drugs outside the Netherlands, reports The guard.

The 41-year-old rapper traveled to Manchester, England, for her concert at the Co-op Live Arena as part of her Pink Friday 2 world tour. Another video posted on the Grammy winner’s Instagram account shows her talking to an unidentified man who tells her that her luggage needs to be searched because he “doesn’t believe you have more than you said you had.”

In a series of X-posts, Minaj claimed that officers “took my luggage without my consent” and “tried to keep me out of MANCHESTER.” She added: “By the way, this is Amsterdam where weed is legal.”

She also claimed that the arrest was an attempt to sabotage her tour, writing, “They get paid a lot of money to try to sabotage my tour because so many people are mad that it’s so successful and they can’t side with me. They got caught stealing money from my trips/jets. Got fired. Got mad. Etc.”

In a statement issued to the Manchester Evening NewsLive Nation announced that Minaj’s show at Co-op Live had been “postponed” in the wake of her arrest.

“Tickets will remain valid for the rescheduled performance, which will be announced as soon as possible. While Nicki has explored every possible option to make tonight’s show possible, today’s events have made that impossible. We are deeply disappointed by the inconvenience this has caused. Please contact your point of purchase for more information.”

Early Sunday morning, the rapper apologized to a large crowd of fans outside her hotel in Manchester for the postponement of her UK show.

“I love you and I’m so sorry that this happened tonight,” Minaj said in a video posted on social media.

She later posted a statement on X describing her experience. “Barbz I’m at the Stock Exchange Hotel in #Manchester,” she wrote. “I arrived just over an hour ago. After sitting in a prison cell for 5-6 hours, my plane didn’t take off until 20 minutes after boarding.”

Minaj continued, “So they succeeded in their plan to not let me on stage tonight. I managed to get to the bottom of it by recording it and posting everything in real time. I have sooooooooo much video evidence. You wouldn’t believe it if I told you. But I will let the lawyers and GOD take it from here. Please, please, please accept my deepest and most sincere apology.
They knew exactly how to hurt me today, but this too shall pass.”

This story has been updated with Minaj’s apology to her fans.