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Justin Bieber Detained At LAX For Five Hours By Customs Officials After Japan Return

Published on: April 25, 2014 at 10:30 AM
By Page Mackinley

Justin Bieber was detained for around five hours by US Customs Officials after he flew into LAX in Los Angeles from Tokyo, Japan, on Thursday.

Justin Bieber’s re-entry into the US on Thursday was anything but smooth.

The Canadian star was detained by US customs officials and questioned for about three hours of a five hour delay after touching down at LAX on an Air Singapore flight from Tokyo, Japan.

Bieber hit tarmac at around 1 pm Pacific Time.

Citing sources close to the star , TMZ reports Bieber was questioned by customs officials inside the Tom Bradley International Terminal in one grilling before undergoing “secondary questioning” because of his legal troubles.

The outlet adds that “secondary questioning” is standard procedure for anyone with a record like Bieber’s and would involve the 20-year-old being probed about his open criminal cases – which includes a DUI charge in Miami , allegedly egging his former neighbor’s house, and an assault charge arising in his native Canada.

A source close to the star tells Us Weekly : “It was a routine secondary set of questioning that Justin has to go through now every time he comes back in the country because he’s a foreign national.”

E! News reports an airport spokesperson gave no details, while the US Customs and Border Protection told them in a statement that they couldn’t speak about an individual’s processing due to privacy laws, but added:

“Our CBP officers are charged with enforcing not only immigration and customs laws, but they also enforce over 400 laws for 40 other agencies and have stopped thousands of violators of US. law.”

The statement also noted that anyone wanting entry to the US bears the burden of proof to show they are “clearly eligible,” and in order to demonstrate their admissibility “the applicant must overcome ALL grounds of inadmissibility.”

Bieber encountered similar problems entering the US in February after he and his crew flew via private jet from Canada into New Jersey’s Teterboro Airport over Super Bowl weekend.

The singer was then detained and questioned while officials searched the jet for drugs after a flight crew tip-off that marijuana had been smoked during the flight.

That search yielded no physical drugs and Bieber and his party were permitted to proceed into the US.

After that first stop, TMZ reported sources said Justin can expect similar delays every time he enters the country due to his ongoing legal cases.

Under the Patriot Act, the US government is empowered to monitor those traveling from the US from another country if they have active criminal cases or convictions.

While Bieber was questioned at LAX , footage of his crew standing around by the singer’s van and luggage were seen on live news reports.

Then, at around 6:20 pm Bieber finally emerged smiling from the terminal escorted by four bodyguards and police wearing a fedora hat, shades, a white T-shirt, black pants, a white T-shirt and a black and white plaid vest, to work his way with difficulty through a paparazzi scrum to his waiting luxury, black van.

While in Japan , the star unwittingly stepped into an historically festering open wound when he visited a Tokyo war shrine that includes 14 convicted war criminals who committed mass trocities during the Pacific War among its 2.5 million honored war-dead.

Bieber’s Wednesday visit to the Yasukuni War Shrine , from where he posted two Instagram snaps which he later deleted, sparked outrage across China and South Korea and prompted a scolding from China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang.

After removing his Instagram snaps, Justin issued a sincere-sounding apology explaining he had been told the shrine was simply a place of prayer. Unfortunately, the singer’s apology to China and Japan has miffed the South Koreans who reportedly feel doubly slighted.

Last week, the White House said it would decline to comment on a petition demanding the singer’s deportation back to his native Canada, because of the ongoing nature of his legal cases.

Once back at his Los Angeles hotel from LAX, Bieber later took to his social media accounts and posted several messages about remaining positive.

His manager, Scooter Braun, who was also at the hotel, joined the online updates.

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