Jamaican Producer Countree Hype Pleads Guilty in US Firearms Smuggling Case

A Jamaican record producer has admitted in a United States federal court that he tried to move a large cache of guns and bullets into Jamaica by hiding them inside office chairs.

Taugea Ubert Dayes, 33, who works on stage as Countree Hype, entered guilty pleas this week to smuggling goods out of the US and to handing firearms to a common carrier without the required written notice. He could receive as much as 10 years in a federal penitentiary. A US federal judge will set his sentence later.

Papers from the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida state that on March 7 and 8, 2025, Dayes placed 30 firearms, 32 magazines and in excess of 100 rounds of ammunition inside five office chairs ahead of dispatch from the US to Jamaica. Authorities say he wrapped the items in tinfoil and foam and stitched them into the chair padding.

The load went out through a freight company on March 10, 2025. Jamaican officers in Kingston stopped it eight days afterward. Homeland Security worked alongside the Jamaica Constabulary Force Firearms and Narcotics Investigation Division on the probe.