Producer Countree Hype pleads guilty in US firearms smuggling case

Jamaican music producer Taugea Ubert Dayes, who records and is widely known as Countree Hype, has pleaded guilty in the United States to offences linked to trafficking firearms and ammunition.

The U.S. Attorney's Office said Dayes admitted to unlawfully moving goods out of the country and to giving a firearm to a common carrier without the required written notice.

Court papers say he hid thirty firearms, magazines and ammunition inside office chairs and dispatched the shipment from the United States toward Jamaica in March 2025.

Jamaican authorities are reported to have taken hold of the consignment in Kingston within days, after the weapons and ammo were found concealed in the furniture.

Dayes now faces a federal sentence of up to ten years, to be set by a judge.

In dancehall, Countree Hype has production credits including Intence's SHHH and Valiant's Rasta, and has teamed with several other artistes on various projects.