Nicki Minaj Released After Arrest in Netherlands for Drug Possession

Nicki Minaj was released from custody on Saturday after being arrested by police in the Netherlands on suspicion of exporting soft drugs, authorities said.

The rapper was fined and permitted to “continue her journey,” police stated in a translated post on X just before 4 p.m. ET.

Minaj, 41, was traveling from Amsterdam to Manchester, England, for a concert on her “Pink Friday 2 World Tour” when she was detained. Minaj, whose real name is Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, was scheduled to perform at the Co-op Live arena in Manchester on Saturday night, but the show was postponed, Live Nation UK announced.

“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 company said. “We are deeply disappointed by the inconvenience this has caused.”

Tickets will remain valid for the rescheduled concert, the company confirmed.

While police did not identify the individual arrested, when asked if it was Minaj, a spokesperson confirmed that officers had “arrested a 41-year-old American woman at Schiphol Airport because of possession of soft drugs.”

In a social media post early Sunday local time, Minaj said she arrived at her hotel in Manchester just over an hour ago. “After sitting in a jail cell for 5-6 hours, my plane still didn’t take off for another 20 mins once I boarded the 50-minute flight from Amsterdam,” she wrote.

“Please please please accept my deepest & most sincere apologies,” Minaj added. “They sure did know exactly how to hurt me today but this too, shall pass.”

The rapper mentioned she hopes to announce the rescheduled date for Saturday’s show on Sunday, considering one option in June and another in July.

She confirmed she would still perform the second show in Manchester on Thursday and the Birmingham concert on Sunday.

“I’ll find a way to not only make up the date with the performance but I’m going to create an added bonus for everyone that had a ticket for this show. Promise,” Minaj said.

Earlier on Saturday, Minaj had shared several posts on social media detailing the incident.

In one video on X, the rapper is seen being informed that her luggage needs to be searched.

“I’m so sorry to say that,” a man at the airport tells her.

“But isn’t that what you planned on doing from the get-go? Why didn’t you guys search it before it went on the plane?” she responds.

The man explains they did a “random quick check” but now need to open the luggage.

In subsequent posts, Minaj expressed her belief that people were trying to “stop this tour” and were lying to her.

“They took my luggage & when I asked where it is they said it’s on the plane. It couldn’t have been, I just pulled up,” she said. “I never gave them my bags. They’re refusing to let me see my own bags.”

In another post, she wrote: “They’re being paid big money to try to sabotage my tour b/c soooooo many ppl are mad that it’s this successful & they can’t eat off me. They got caught stealing money from my travel/jets. Got fired. Got mad. Etc.”

“This is how they plant things in your luggage,” another post read.

Minaj said in her Sunday social media post that she has video evidence of the encounter and she’ll “have the lawyers & GOD take it from here tho.”

During an Instagram Live session, Minaj filmed police as they instructed her to get inside a van to be taken to the police station. In a post on X, the rapper mentioned she was being told she had to “go 5 mins away to make a statement about my security to the police precinct.”