Justin Bieber and his father were
“extremely abusive” to a flight attendant as their private jet flew from
Canada to New Jersey on Friday, forcing her to take refuge in the
cockpit, according to an official report obtained exclusively by NBC
News.
According to multiple law
enforcement sources, the leased, luxurious Gulfstream IV on which the
19-year-old Canadian pop star, his father and an entourage of 10 friends
traveled was so full of marijuana smoke that the pilots were forced to
wear oxygen masks.
“The captain of the
flight stated that he warned the passengers, including Bieber, on
several occasions to stop smoking marijuana,” says the official report
of the incident. “The captain also stated he needed to request that the
passengers stop their harassing behavior toward the flight attendant and
after several warnings asked the flight attendant to stay with him near
the cockpit to avoid any further abuse.”
According to multiple sources, the
attendant was forced to spend much of the flight near the pilots as the
plane travelled from Canada to Teterboro, N.J.
“The
flight attendant stated the passengers, including Bieber and his
father, Jeremy Bieber,” stated the report, “were extremely abusive
verbally and she would not work another flight with them.”
The
pilots, despite a pressurized cabin, were forced to wear their oxygen
masks during the flight, according to multiple sources, so that they
wouldn’t risk inhaling marijuana and failing any subsequent drug test,
which would put their licenses at risk.
According
to officials, when the plane landed at Teterboro, a suburban airport
that caters to the rich and famous and their private aircraft, it was
met by DEA and Customs and Border Protection agents and police. There
was still marijuana smoke inside the cabin, according to the report.
Officials decided to
question Bieber separately from the other passengers, said the report,
because “in past examinations, Bieber had become argumentative and
abusive when together with his security team.”
When
interviewed at Teterboro, Bieber admitted smoking marijuana and
drinking alcohol, but stated that he did not have any additional
marijuana.
According to federal
and regional sources, the troubled star, his father, and his entourage,
who were headed to the New York City area to attend the Super Bowl and
related parties, first drove toward the U.S.-Canadian border in a motor
coach. They turned back and flew from Waterloo, Ont. to Teterboro
instead.
After Bieber’s flight landed Friday,
drug-sniffing dogs from Customs and Border Protection and the New
York/New Jersey Port Authority Police Department sat down as they walked
around the plane, meaning the dogs were alerting handlers to the
possible presence of drugs. Authorities then boarded the jet, which
multiple sources said reeked of marijuana. However, no unsmoked weed was
found during the search.
The two
drug dogs also alerted handlers to the possible presence of drugs in
three pieces of luggage. “One bag was labeled as belonging to Justin
Bieber, one was listed as belonging to his personal assistant … and one
[was] labeled as belonging to his personal trainer.”
The trainer and the
assistant “disavowed knowledge of the contents of the bags and stated
they were actually Bieber’s bags, but they were forced to place their
names on the bags,” according to the report. No “contraband” was found,
however.
No members of the flight
crew were willing to file charges against their passengers, so Bieber,
his father and his friends were allowed to go on their way.
After
the Bieber entourage left, however, two sources said that authorities
performed another search of the plane and found empty bags that appeared
to have once contained marijuana. None of the items could be linked to
Bieber, his father, or their guests.
Neither
Drug Enforcement Administration officials nor Customs and Border
Protection officials would comment to NBC News. The aviation company
that flew the Bieber entourage to New Jersey, Meridian Air Charter, also
declined comment.
The incident
was the third encounter with law enforcement in recent weeks for Bieber.
In late January, he was arrested for alleged drunk driving in Miami
after an alleged drag race, and then arrested in Toronto for an alleged
assault on a limo driver that occurred in late December.
Bieber had planned to spend Super Bowl weekend at New York City’s Four Seasons hotel, said the report, and depart Monday.
“Bieber
… stated he would be watching the game from a private suite in METLIFE
stadium, but he was unsure who owned the box he would be staying in. He
stated that his assistant would probably know.”
On Sunday, the
19-year-old was shunned at the door of the New York City club 1 Oak and
turned away from at least four Super Bowl parties, according to the New
York Daily News' Confidential column.
On Tuesday, Bieber settled a Los Angeles lawsuit with his former bodyguard, who accused the pop star of assaulting him in 2012.
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