Juice WRLD's Friends Say He Was Racially Profiled by Cops

The fact cops were all over Juice WRLD multiple times -- including an NYC bust last year -- pisses off his friends, who think cops were merely profiling a 20-year-old rich black man who dares to fly on private jets.

Sources who regularly interacted with Juice and were close to him tell TMZ ... all of the run-ins he had with cops are more than suspicious. The fact feds just happened to show up at multiple airports where he and/or his private jet were searched is enough for Juice's inner circle to believe this might well have something to do with race and rappers.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... Juice got arrested in 2018 at NYC's LaGuardia Airport after officers responded to a call for "prohibited items" found inside one of his checked bags. We're told the items included a small amount of marijuana and bottles of codeine cough syrup.

Juice was initially charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana, and possession of a controlled substance -- however we're told he eventually pled to a much lesser, non-criminal offense. The case has since been sealed.

Our Juice sources suspect cops were racially profiling him. Remember, at the time of the NY bust -- and also the LAX search we first reported -- Juice was only 20, but he'd signed a reported $3 million deal in 2018 with Interscope.

We're told people close to him think the sudden fame, success and money made him a target with law enforcement -- especially considering he was a kid flying private with other kids.

Now, it is a fact there were 70 lbs. of marijuana seized from what turned out to be Juice's final flight -- and we now know why he was flying to Chicago. Our sources say he had planned a massive party for Sunday night to celebrate his 21st birthday which was 6 days earlier.

We don't know the weed was specifically for that party -- that would've been A LOT of product, even for a large number of guests.