Singer Akon has been arrested in Georgia
Singer Akon was arrested and booked into county jail in Georgia.
The ‘Smack That’ hitmaker, whose real name is Aliaune Badara Akon Thiam, has reportedly been arrested in DeKalb County, Georgia, as part of an out-of-county warrant, jail records reveal.
The 52-year-old St Louis star was reportedly taken into custody earlier this month by the Chamblee Police Department on Friday (November 7) on a warrant issued out of Roswell.
Akon was then booked around noon and spent six hours in the county jail, reportedly being released 6.30pm that evening after being processed.
According to a Chamblee Police warrant seen by , officers were responding to a ‘Flock-warrant person alert for a white Tesla truck’ as the ‘registered owner was listed as wanted by the Roswell Police Department’.
Officers said the vehicle was spotted at Tint World where it had been ‘dropped off to be worked on’.
The R&B singer has had run-ins with the law in the past (Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images)
The singer also reportedly ‘remained calm’ and stated ‘he was aware of the warrant’ before being handcuffed.
It remains unclear what the warrant was for.
DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the arrest to TMZ which also reported the ‘Locked Up’ rapper had his mug shot taken wearing a black hoodie and appearing ‘mostly expressionless’.
It’s not the first instance the five-time Grammy nominee has had a brush with the law.
In 1998, he spent several months behind bars for car theft charges, though these were later dropped.
Then a decade later, he pleased guilty to second-degree harassment and endangering the welfare of a minor for hurling a 15-year-old fan off his stage during his performance at Dutchess Stadium, New York.
The singer was fined $350 and ordered to 65 hours of community service.
According to local reports at the time, the Akon met the fan outside the Fishkill courthouse in 2008 and apologized to the youngster.
Akon is currently on tour in India (Matt Jelonek/Getty Images)
The latest arrest comes as the Senegalese-American philanthropist, self-proclaimed polygamist and father-of-nine is currently on tour in India.
The R&B star performed in Delhi on November 9 and is due to take to the stage in Bangaluru just this weekend on Friday (November 14) followed by Mumbai on November 16.
He is set to return to the US to perform in Las Vegas on January 3 next year.
Music aside, the hip-hop artist is renowned for his philanthropic projects over the years, including his ‘Akon Lighting Africa’ project, which has reportedly provided power to 15 countries across the continent since 2014.
He’s passionate about his philanthropic work outside of music (Kris Connor/Getty Images)
He also launched his own charity, Konfidence Foundation, for underprivileged children in Africa.
Meanwhile, his vision for a $6 billion tourist city called Akon City in Senegal, with a cryptocurrency-based economy dubbed Akoin, fell though in July this year.
The celeb had high hopes it would be a ‘real-life Wakanda’, inspired by the African nation in the Marvel superhero movie, Black Panther.
One of his reported four wives, Tomeka Thiam, whom he also shares a 17-year-old daughter, also filed for divorce on what would have been their 29th wedding anniversary on September 11 this year.