He who sang the opposite will indeed spend at least several nights in prison. Busy Signal was arrested yesterday at Norman Manley airport in Kingston as he returned from Europe (including a stop in Paris for the Reggae Splash Tour last week). Picked up in London and held by British immigration services, the dancehall deejay was met by law enforcement as he stepped off the plane in Kingston.
Busy Signal is reportedly wanted by the US government, which has issued an extradition warrant. The deejay, who lived in the USA, is allegedly involved in cocaine cases and is said to have fled in March 2002 after being released on bail. The Jamaica Observer reports that Busy Signal is suspected of having removed his electronic tag in order to return to Jamaica. He is also suspected of having travelled since then under a false name (Reanno Devon Gordon, while his real name is Glendale Goshia Gordon) and with fake identity papers. While the deejay has toured extensively in recent years, he has also carefully avoided US territory.
A few days before the second anniversary of the assault on Tivoli Gardens by the Jamaican security forces in May 2010, Busy Signal would thus be the first artist targeted by the US authorities several months ago. Born & raised in Tivoli Gardens, the stronghold of Christopher Dudus Coke, Busy Signal is suspected of being linked to Dudus's criminal activities; Dudus's sentence is to be handed down today.
Busy Signal will appear before the court in Halfway Tree next Thursday. He faces extradition to the USA.