Justin Bieber released after private jet searched for drugs: source

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 8.20pm local time that Bieber had been released from US Customs, and had no further comment.

Earlier on 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.