Two days after he was to be handed the "Best CD of the Year" award, rapper T.I. was led handcuffed into a federal courtroom to face federal weapons charges. The only sounds he made were the jingling of his leg chains.

T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, missed Saturday's BET Hip-Hop awards show in Atlanta because he was arrested hours earlier for possessing three unregistered machine guns and two silencers, and for possession of firearms by a convicted felon.

During a brief court hearing, U.S. Magistrate Alan Baverman ordered Harris to remain in custody at least until Friday, when the judge will hold hearings to determine whether Harris is eligible for a bond and whether there was probable cause to arrest him.

Federal prosecutors are moving to keep Harris detained until his trial, which could be several months away. If convicted, Harris, 27, faces certain prison time - about five or more years behind bars, according to the federal sentencing guidelines.

One of his lawyers, Steve Sadow, said he requested Harris's bond hearing be postponed until Friday to give the defense team more time to prepare for it. But it will be difficult for Harris's defense team to win a bond for a defendant who has a prior crack cocaine-dealing felony conviction and who allegedly had an arsenal of weapons at his College Park home.

Harris, wearing a black shirt and pants, answered "Yes, sir," and "Yes, your honor," when asked a number of questions by Baverman, such as whether he understood the charges against him and knew he had the right to remain silent. Family members sat jammed together behind the rap star in the packed courtroom.

After the hearing, Dwight Thomas, one of Harris's lawyers, said, "We're looking at complete exoneration in this case. Our objective is to completely exonerate him."

But federal agents say they have Harris on an undercover tape finalizing the deal for the three machine guns.

In an affidavit accompanying Harris's criminal complaint, Jason Stricklin, a Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco special agent, said one of Harris's bodyguards cooperated with authorities in the arrest. The bodyguard, whose name has not been disclosed, told agents he illegally purchased nine firearms for Harris since he began working for him in July. In these "straw" purchases, Harris fronted his bodyguard thousands of dollars for the weapons, the ATF agent's affidavit said.

Harris was convicted of drug distribution in June 1998 in Cobb County and has additional arrests and a probation violation for unlawfully possessing firearms.

On four different occasions, the affidavit said, he gave his bodyguard cash to buy firarms.The bodyguard said that in September he delivered a 9-mm pistol to Harris, who invited the bodyguard into his bedroom, the affidavit said. Inside, there was a walk-in closet with a safe tall enough for a person to enter with a fingerprint-reading scanner as a lock, the affidavit said. The safe contained multiple short rifles, including an assault rifle inside a black bag, according to the affidavit.

On Saturday, wearing a hidden wire and cooperating with federal agents, the bodyguard met Harris at a pre-arranged meeting place in Midtown and handed over the three machine guns and two silencers, the affidavit said. When Harris was told about one of the silencers, he said, "no flash, no bang," and later asked for the "change leftover" from the $12,000 he had given the bodyguard for the weapons, the affidavit said.

Harris was then arrested without incident.

At a press conference an hour after Monday's court hearing, federal agents displayed nine weapons they said were found in Harris's car and in the closet of his home. Among the weapons on display across a long conference table at the ATF office were an AK-47, a 9-mm handgun. Moments later they introduced three machine guns and the two silencers.

"Machine guns and silencers pose serious dangers to our community," U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said. "The last place the machine guns and silencers should be are in the hands of a convicted felon."

Felony cases involving illegal possession of firearms are relatively common, said Vanessa McLemore, special agent in charge of the ATF office in Atlanta. In the first nine months of this year, she said, 129 people have been convicted of being a felon of possession of a firearm in Georgia.

Authorities at the press conference would not discuss any deal they struck with Harris's bodyguard, who has been arrested and is facing charges, Nahmias said.

Staff writer Paul Donsky contributed to this article.