DJ David Morales has been arrested in Japan on suspicion of drug smuggling after customs officials claimed they discovered ecstasy in his suitcase.
Authorities allegedly found a small number of granules of the euphoria-inducing drug in the Grammy Award-winner’s luggage during a search at Fukuoka airport.
Police have reportedly accused the 56-year-old American of smuggling around 0.3 grams of MDMA into the country when he arrived on a flight from Hong Kong on Saturday.
“He was arrested for allegedly violating the law on narcotics and psychotropics control,” a police spokesman told AFP.
According to Japanese newspaper The Asahi Shimbun, Morales has denied any wrongdoing.
The newspaper said the DJ had told police the drug did not belong to him and had likely been slipped into his case by someone else.
Morales had been scheduled to perform in Tokyo on Saturday, but reportedly stopped in Fukuoka, on the southern Japanese island of Kyushu, to meet with the event’s organisers.
Considered one of the biggest DJs of his era, Morales has headlined bills at clubs across the world during the course of his career.
He has remixed and produced more than 500 releases for artists such as Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, U2 and Whitney Houston.
The DJ won the 1999 Grammy Award for best remixed recording for his club mix of My All by Mariah Carey.
