Is 'bad boy' Bieber being egged on by live-in friend Lil Za?

JUSTIN BIEBER is the neighbour from hell. That's the impression held by a growing number of residents in an exclusive Los Angeles suburb after the Canadian pop star was detained by police for chucking eggs at the house next door.

Bieber, who has previously infuriated his neighbours in Calabasas by racing his white Ferrari around its quiet streets, was visited by police who searched his home after reports of the egging affair. The pop star's egg-streme barrage apparently caused "serious damage to the neighbour's home", the BBC reports.

Police said Bieber, 19, had "not been arrested, nor has he been exonerated". However, a member of his entourage was held for alleged possession of a drug believed to be cocaine or 'molly', a form of ecstasy.

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The Daily Mail says the man in question is 20-year-old Xavier Smith (aka Lil Za), Bieber's "live-in friend". Smith was taken to the Lost Hills sheriff's station where he was arrested again after "losing his temper and damaging a phone in the holding cell", the paper says.

Smith "furiously banged the handset against the dial", says the Mail, which adds that the bail securing his release was subsequently re-adjusted to a reported $70,000.

Lieutenant David Thompson from the LAPD told reporters that egg throwing might not seem significant, but "it does rise to the level of a felony".

"There is a victim in this case who has extensive damage done to their home," Thompson said. "And that's a serious incident."

Might Bieber be being led astray by Smith? The Mail thinks he is. Smith has been "widely regarded as a bad influence on Bieber for over a year", the paper says. "He [Smith] was supposed to have been moved out of the singer's home but according to reports he has been staying at Bieber's Calabasas home for months."