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Nicki Minaj was briefly detained and fined at Amsterdam Airport after Dutch police said “soft drugs” were found in her luggage

According to Dutch authorities, rapper Nicki Minaj was briefly detained and subsequently fined at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport on Saturday, accusing her of having “soft drugs” found in her luggage.

The Royal Marechaussee, the Dutch police authority, posted on social media on Saturday evening that a 41-year-old American woman arrested on suspicion of exporting soft drugs had been fined and released from custody after authorities consulted with local prosecutors. The amount of the fine was not disclosed.

Although Dutch police did not name Minaj as a suspect, the rapper posted a video of the ordeal on social media. In the video, she explains that police told her that officers allegedly found marijuana in her bags and that it needed to be weighed.

In Minaj’s video, a man in a suit can be seen telling her that the police want to “search all of her luggage.”

“The police officer told me we have to unload all your luggage and search all your luggage,” the man, whose identity was not immediately released, says in the video.

“…He (a police officer) doesn’t believe you have more on you than you said,” the man can also be heard saying.

Cannabis is illegal in the Netherlands, but is tolerated for recreational use.

FILE — Nicki Minaj says her bags were searched when she left the Netherlands on May 25, 2024. She tweeted that police told her they found marijuana in her bags.

Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File


In the video, police officers can be heard telling Minaj that she is “under arrest” for “drug possession” before ordering her to get into a van and drive to the police station.

Minaj, whose real name was Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, denied the allegations and repeatedly asked for a lawyer before getting into the van.

Before Minaj’s release, Robert Kapel, a military police spokesman, told AFP that “an interrogation was still ongoing.”

A representative for Minaj and the Amsterdam police did not immediately respond to CBS News’ request for comment.

In a series of posts on X, Minaj claimed the arrest was an attempt to “sabotage my tour.”

“They get paid a lot of money to try to sabotage my tour because soooooo many people are mad that it’s so successful and they can’t stand with me. They got caught stealing money from my trips/jets. They got fired. They got mad. Etc,” she said.

Minaj was in Amsterdam, where she played a show at Ziggo’s Dome on Thursday, and was heading to Manchester, England, for another show as part of her Pink Friday 2 World Tour.