Buju Banton

Reggae star Buju Banton has been arrested for trying to buy more than five kilograms of cocaine last week from an undercover law-enforcement officer.

Wearing a beige jail jumpsuit and shackles, Banton, 36, sat expressionless in the front row of the Miami federal courtroom Wednesday morning, his trademark dreadlocks pulled back off his narrow face and rolled into a bundle.

Occasionally, he looked across the courtroom where, in the back row, his publicist and two members of the local Jamaican Consulate observed the proceedings.

The only time Banton spoke was when he uttered his real name and age, and confirmed to U.S. Magistrate Judge William Turnoff that he was indeed waiving his bail hearing in Miami to be transferred to Tampa.

Banton, whose album Rasta Got Soul is nominated for the Grammy Reggae Album of the Year, is looking forward to ``getting back to doing what he does, which is make music for the people of the world.''