Source: Justin Bieber, dad ignored pilot's demand to put pot away
By Susan Candiotti and Alan Duke
updated 5:00 PM EST, Wed February 5, 2014
New York (CNN) -- Justin Bieber and his father allegedly refused a pilot's warning to stop smoking pot during a flight from Canada to New Jersey on Friday, according to a law enforcement source.
A law enforcement official gave details to CNN about what the flight crew on the chartered jet told federal officials after they ferried Bieber and his entourage from Canada to New Jersey's Teterboro Airport on Friday. The official asked not to be identified.
Marijuana smoke was so strong in the jet's cabin that the flight crew put on oxygen masks because they were concerned they might inhale so much it would cause them to test positive for drug use, said the source.
The pilots repeatedly asked the pop star, his father, Jeremy Bieber, and other passengers to put away marijuana during the flight, according to the source. The pilot said the singer and his father were verbally abusive to the flight crew. This prompted the pilot to have the flight attendant stay close to the cockpit to avoid contact with Bieber as much as possible, the source said.
Bieber and his entourage of 10 were granted re-entry into the United States after a search of the chartered plane by federal officials, who said they detected an odor of marijuana after it landed at New Jersey's Teterboro Airport, a law enforcement official told CNN.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers said they detected the odor, which prompted the search using drug-sniffing dogs, the source said.
Bieber, a Canadian citizen living in the United States on a work visa, was detained by border agents for several hours of questioning. The interview is routinely conducted to ensure people entering the country are in compliance with U.S. law, another law enforcement source said.
A Customs and Border Protection spokesman declined comment, citing privacy requirements involving the questioning of people applying to enter the United States.
Bieber rep Matt Hiltzik declined comment to CNN.
Bieber, 19, was arrested last week in Toronto, accused of assaulting his limousine driver in December.
He also faces charges of drunken driving, resisting arrest and driving on an expired license after being stopped by police in Miami Beach, Florida, last month.
The Los Angeles County district attorney is considering whether to charge Bieber with felony vandalism in the egging of his neighbor's house on January 9, 2014.
