US rapper Fetty Wap indicted by FBI on drug trafficking charges

American rapper Fetty Wap has been arrested and charged in a major drug trafficking ring that officials say moved more than 100 kilograms of controlled substances across the country.

According to People magazine, the ‘Trap Queen’ rapper was arrested on Thursday and is one among the six people charged with “conspiring to distribute and possess controlled substances,” a release from the US Department of Justice stated.

More than 100 kilograms of cocaine, heroin, fentanyl and crack cocaine had allegedly been distributed across Long Island and New Jersey from June 2019 to June 2020 by Fetty, real name William Junior Maxwell II, and the other men, including a New Jersey corrections officer.

The men allegedly obtained the narcotics on the West Coast, and then used the US Postal Service and drivers with hidden compartments in their vehicles to transport them cross-country, where they were stored in Suffolk County, New York, according to the release.

“Maxwell was a kilogram-level redistributor for the trafficking organization,” officials said of his role.

Search warrants yielded the recovery of approximately USD 1.5 million in cash, 16 kilograms of cocaine, 2 kilograms of heroin, numerous fentanyl pills, two 9mm handguns, a rifle, a .45 calibre pistol, a .40 calibre pistol and ammunition, the release stated.

Michael Driscoll, FBI assistant director-in-charge, in a statement said, “The fact that we arrested a chart-topping rap artist and a corrections officer as part of the conspiracy illustrates just how vile the drug trade has become.”

A news outlet has reported that Wap was arrested at Citi Field in Queens, New York, and is expected to make his initial court appearance on Long Island on Friday. If convicted, the defendants will face a maximum of life in prison.

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Fetty’s attorney, Navarro Gray, told TMZ, “We pray that this is all a big misunderstanding. He sees the judge today. Hoping he gets released so we can clear things up expeditiously.”

He was earlier arrested in Las Vegas in 2019 for allegedly assaulting three employees at a hotel’s casino, and was also arrested in November 2017 and charged with DUI after police said he had been racing on a New York highway.

Citi Field, a baseball stadium home to the New York Mets, was hosting the Rolling Loud hip-hop music festival on Thursday, with a line-up including 50 Cent, Jack Harlow, Lil Uzi Vert and Gucci Mane. Fetty Wap, who is based in Paterson, New Jersey, was not in the line-up.

The rapper rose to fame in 2015 with his debut single ‘Trap Queen’, which became a sleeper hit and eventually cracked the Billboard Hot 100 Top 10, peaking at No. 2. His other Top 10 singles include ‘679’ and ‘My Way’, both of which featured on his Billboard 200 chart-topping debut album.

His second album, ‘The Butterfly Effect’, was released last week. As per people magazine, the LP came following the summertime death of his 4-year-old daughter Lauren, whom Fetty said “loved” butterflies.

• Americas