Tomas Olesen reports on Buju Banton, author of the infamous dancehall tune 'boom bye bye', and his alleged involvement in cocaine trafficking
Buju Banton is in a whole heap of trouble, and for once it has nothing to do with homophobic lyrics. The four-time Grammy nominee is implicated as the money man in a conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine.
Buju is on trial in Tampa federal court on charges relating to the distribution of cocaine with intent to supply and possesion of a firearm. Yesterday the court were played recordings and heard testimony from an informant about a series of meetings and phone calls apparently concerning the buying and selling of cocaine. Soundbites of which included Banton seemingly admitting “all I do is finance” and asking the informant if he had “any contacts where I can get cocaine”.
It all began at the end of Buju's European tour last summer on a plane from Spain to Miami. Buju unwittingly entered into conversation with a government informant called Alexander Johnson and apparently admitted he was invloved in moving money for traffickers in England. They arranged to meet the next day and over several such meetings, usually in restaurants, they discussed selling drugs in Europe, having Banton finance a drug deal, buying drugs from Colombia, using Johnson's boat to transport drugs, and giving Johnson a cut of a drug deal.
Among the most damning evidence is a police surveillance video of Buju and his co-defendant Ian Thomas (whom Banton is alleged to have introduced to Johnson because he had the contacts to sell the cocaine). The jury were played video yesterday of what appears to be Thomas cutting into a kilo of cocaine before passing Buju the knife so he could try the drug with a finger.
The trial continues but with the weight of evidence on offer so far it looks as if reggae could be losing one of it’s biggest stars to the jail house.
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