IAN Thomas, the co-accused of convicted Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton, was yesterday sentenced to 51 months' imprisonment in a federal court in Tampa, Florida.

The sentence was more than the 18 months that Thomas had requested in court documents last week for co-operating with the prosecution against Banton.

"Mr Thomas requests that the court deem a sentence of 18 months more than reasonable in this case," according to the papers filed in the Sam M Gibbons Federal Court last Friday.

Yesterday's sentence follows Banton's conviction in the said court in February on charges of conspiracy to distribute five or more kilogrammes of cocaine, possession of a firearm in the furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and using the wires to facilitate a drug-trafficking offence.
The Grammy award-winning artiste was acquitted of a fourth charge of attempted possession with the intent to distribute cocaine.
Banton, whose real name is Mark Myrie, is to be sentenced on June 23. He faces upwards of 15 years in prison.

Thomas, who is a long-time friend of Banton, was arrested in an undercover operation in a warehouse in Florida along with a man by the name of James Mack in December 2009. Banton was arrested hours later at his south Florida home. Both Thomas and Mack pleaded guilty on the charges against them. They were scheduled to give evidence in Banton's trial but were not called.
Although Thomas did not give evidence in court, his briefing, according to the court document filed last Friday, has tremendously benefited the prosecution.

Thomas said in the filing that he did not stand to benefit from any sale of cocaine and that his only function was to seek a buyer for the cocaine that the Government's confidential source had presented.
"After consideration of the factors enumerated... this court should find that a sentence below the advisory guideline range is sufficient but not greater than the necessary to achieve the purposes of sentencing," said the document.