Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber was allowed re-entry into the US last night after a brief detention during which US customs officials used drug-sniffing dogs to search his private jet, according to a US law enforcement source briefed on the incident.
No illegal drugs were found on the jet and no charges were brought, but the young singer and his fellow passengers were questioned for several hours, said the source.
The search was undertaken after US customs officials believed they smelled marijuana on some of Bieber’s entourage.
It was not immediately clear who or how many other passengers were on the aircraft that touched down at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport.
A Port Authority spokesman said his agency was notified at 8.20pm local time that Bieber had been released from US Customs, and had no further comment.
Earlier yesterday, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office charged a friend of Bieber's with drug possession in connection with a raid last month on the singer's home in Calabasas, California, about 30 miles (48km) northeast of Los Angeles.
Xavier Smith (20), better known as rapper Lil Za, was charged with possession of MDMA and oxycodone and vandalising the Los Angeles County Sheriff's jail where he was held, said Ricardo Santiago, a spokesman for the district attorney.
Bieber (19), was arrested last week in Miami Beach on charges of driving under the influence, resisting arrest and driving with an expired licence.
The Canadian was also charged on Wednesday of this week with assaulting a limousine driver in Toronto.
Reuters