Bounty Killer

Controversial dancehall entertainer Bounty Killer has found himself in another run-in with the law. The deejay was charged with possession of ganja by police in the business and clubbing district of New Kingston last Thursday.

An officer at the New Kingston Police Post told The Gleaner yesterday that Bounty Killer was stopped by police while driving along Knutsford Boulevard at 4:30 a.m. He was allegedly smoking a ganja spliff, a Jamaican term for marijuana rolled like a cigarette, and also had a small quantity of the contraband in his vehicle.

He was charged at the police precincts and is scheduled to appear in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court on November 17.

Regular run-ins

The Gleaner made several calls yesterday to Bounty Killer's manager, Julian Jones-Griffiths' cellphone, but there was no response.

This is Bounty Killer's latest in a long list of brushes with the authorities. The 37-year-old, whose given name is Rodney Price, has three other cases in the courts.

Just last Thursday, he pleaded not guilty to drug charges in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court, related to an October 9 police search on Grenada Crescent, also in New Kingston.

Another case relates to traffic violations allegedly committed in late 2008. He was accused by the police of breaking seven red lights, obstructing traffic and refusing to undergo a breathalyser test in an early-morning incident.

Banned in trinidad

He has also been charged with assaulting a police officer and illegal possession of a firearm in a September 2007 incident outside a New Kingston nightclub.

Three weeks ago, he was barred from entering Trinidad and Tobago where he was down to perform at a show in Port-of-Spain.

Bounty Killer has been one of the biggest attractions in dancehall for almost 20 years. His long-running feud with arch-rival Beenie Man has been a sideshow of the genre since the mid-1990s.

Musically, he is best known for edgy songs like Fed Up, The Lord Is My Light And Salvationand Benz & Bimma, taken from his highly rated My Xperience album. In 2001, he teamed with American punk band, No Doubt, on the international hit song, Hey Baby.