Nicki Minaj freed after being detained at Amsterdam airport, UK concert postponed

AMSTERDAM — Rapper Nicki Minaj was detained at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport on Saturday, several media outlets reported. She was later fined and released and continued to England for a scheduled concert.

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Minaj, 41, posted videos on social media about the incident in The Netherlands, the BBC reported.

Update 5:07 p.m. EDT: Nicki Minaj’s concert scheduled for Saturday night in Manchester, England, was postponed after the rapper was detained in Amsterdam, The Associated Press reported.

Minaj had been scheduled to perform at the Co-op Live arena in Manchester as part of her “Pink Friday 2 World Tour,” NBC News reported.

Update 4:32 p.m. EDT May 25: Nicki Minaj was released from custody Saturday, hours after the rapper was detained by police at Amsterdam’s airport on suspicion of exporting soft drugs, authorities said.

Minaj, 41, was fined an unspecified amount and was allowed to continue her flight to Manchester, England, Dutch police said in a translated post on X, formerly known as Twitter, NBC News reported.

Original report: The 12-time Grammy Award nominee said that police discovered marijuana in her bags as she prepared to leave The Netherlands for her next concert in Manchester, England, according to The Associated Press.

Minaj, whose real name is Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, is scheduled to perform at the Co-op Live arena on Saturday night as part of her “Pink Friday 2 World Tour,” NBC News reported.

Robert Van Kapel, a spokesperson for the Netherlands military police, said a 41-year-old American woman had been arrested for exporting “soft drugs,” according to the AP. He did not identify the woman or elaborate on the type of drugs that were confiscated.

A statement given to the PA agency by Dutch police confirmed that the woman remained under arrest as of Saturday night, NBC News reported.

Minaj tweeted about the encounter with Dutch officials.

“They took my luggage without consent,” the rapper wrote in one post.

In another, she noted that “This is Amsterdam btw (by the way), where weed is legal,” according to NBC News.

In a third tweet, Minaj wrote, “Told you, it’s to try to make me late so that they can write negative stories. Jealousy is a disease. You know the rest.”

Representatives for Minaj did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment, the AP reported.

Minaj, a former “American Idol” judge, played a show in Amsterdam’s Ziggo Dome on Thursday, according to The Guardian. She is due to return to The Netherlands for another show on June 2.

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