Nothing is going right for Buju Banton. Used to run-ins with the police, Gargamel is this time experiencing American prisons. The Jamaican was reportedly arrested on Thursday 10 December 2009 in Miami in possession of cocaine.
Currently in custody at the federal detention centre in Miami, Buju Banton is reportedly awaiting transfer to Tampa, where he would be charged with possession of cocaine with intent to sell. The Miami Herald, in its Sunday 13 December edition, speaks of "more than 5 kilos" of powder.
One certainty, however: Mark Anthony Myrie is indeed among the inmates of the federal detention centre in Miami, according to the very official website of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Buju Banton was reportedly arrested with an accomplice, spotted by a surveillance camera. The news was also reported in the columns of The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, and by the news agency The Associated Press (AP).
The Jamaica Gleaner reports that Buju Banton's manager, Traci McGregor, is to meet a Jamaican diplomatic delegation in Tampa today to help prepare his defence.
The prime target of gay rights groups, Buju Banton had seen the movement redouble after his Grammy Award nomination for best reggae album of the year. On Twitter, the "Free Buju" messages are already rolling in. Others already see in this umpteenth affair a plot by gay rights organisations.