Members of an American rap group, who were performing in Barcelona have been arrested, accused of raping a minor and obstruction of justice.

After initially appearing in a police station to make a statement and having their passports held, they were told not to leave the country. They were due to play in Copenhagen on Monday the 4th and had had to cancel the gig.

However, two of them did try to flee the country using duplicate passports that they had obtained from the US Consulate, but they were detained at Barcelona airport, El Prat, attempting to board a plane back to New York.

The Smooky Margielaa concert had taken place in the music venue, Sala Razzmatazz, where a 17-year-old girl went backstage with one of them. However, she claims, two other members had entered and between them gang raped her.

The Regional Police had not opted to maintain the rappers in custody, originally, because upon viewing footage from the CCTV cameras in the venue they saw that the minor’s testimony did not fit in.

She later modified her statement because of this, claiming that she had entered the changing room and had performed consented sex with one of the group members but later three other members had entered and forced her to have sex with them too.

The plot thickens because a national TV programme, Espejo Público (Antena 3) reported that the victim had made five rape claims against other men on previous occasions.

On the other hand, this is not the first time that a band member has had problems with alleged sexual abuse.

Had the band members stayed put, things might have turned out differently, but they now face a charge of Perversion of Justice.

Update: 21:58/06th: Both the parents and the Public Prosecutor have dropped the rape charges against the rappers. However, they still face charges over having tried to flee the country; i.e., Perversion of Justice.

(News: Barcelona, Cataluña)