Bieber released after private jet searched for drugs

(MENAFN-Arab News) NEW YORK: Canadian pop singer Justin Bieber was allowed re-entry into the United States on Friday 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 plane and no charges were brought, but the young singer and his fellow passengers were questioned for several hours, said the source

The search of the plane 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 plane that touched down at New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport

A Port Authority spokesman said his agency was notified at 8:20 p.m. local time (0120 GMT) that Bieber had been released from US Customs, and had no further comment

Earlier Friday, 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 48 km northeast of Los Angeles

Xavier Smith, 20, better known as rapper Lil Za, was charged with possession of MDMA and oxycodone and vandalizing 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 license

The Canadian was also charged on Wednesday with assaulting a limousine driver in Toronto.