In his opening statements in the cocaine trial of Mark ‘Buju Banton’ Myrie, his attorney David Oscar Markus, said the only thing his client was guilty of was “talking too much”. As the case unfolded, the world heard how much “talk” it was as tapes were played of the reggae superstar loosely serving up his most confidential secrets to a man he had met on a flight from Madrid to Miami.
Tapes were played of Buju telling the informant that he smuggles diamonds from Africa to Europe and that while he funds cocaine deals, he doesn’t actually get involved.
Speculation has been rife that the informant, Richard Alexander, who Buju Banton met on that ill-fated flight, had been strategically placed next to the reggae artiste on the plane for the specific purpose of entrapping him.
However, attorney-at-law, David Rowe, who has been overseeing the case on behalf of several media houses in Jamaica, says there is no evidence to support that school of thought.
According to Rowe, the transcripts show that it was Buju who actually approached the informant about cocaine and not the other way around.
“The initial contact was made on a flight from Madrid to Miami … it was Buju who approached the informant. They are on the plane drinking red wine and Buju asks, ‘Do you know who I am? I am Buju Banton, the big reggae superstar.’ And after that the conversation went from his stardom to his ability to engage in the sale of cocaine. That’s what the tapes said.” Prof. Rowe told Sharon Gordon and Bro Carlyle last Thursday night on their programme. “Buju left his number on a napkin for the guy to keep in contact with him,” Prof Rowe added.
He added, “The informant is a Colombian … he does Colombians, he doesn’t normally do Jamaicans.”
However, since his job is that of informing on cocaine deals, when Buju told the informant his story, Johnson did his job, Professor Rowe pointed out.
When Rowe made this revelation on the programme, the listeners in the chat-room went berserk. They protested Buju’s innocence. He again infuriated the chat-room when he added, “The law in the US is extremely blind, it doesn’t really care that Buju Banton is a reggae superstar from Jamaica”.
Rowe defended himself by pointing out that in addition to the fact that doesn’t know Buju Banton and had nothing to gain, the transcripts have been made public and anybody can check them.
“Buju,” he emphasized, “ made some very damning statements out of his own mouth on the tape. And he has a song, Driver, in which he says it all.”
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