Juelz Santana Arrested for Drug And Weapons

Diplomats MC was picked up after a raid on his recording studio turned up marijuana and handguns.

By Mawuse Ziegbe

Juelz Santana has been arrested weeks after a raid on his New Jersey studio turned up marijuana and weapons.

Bergen County Prosecutor's Office public information officer Maureen Parenta said in a statement that Juelz, born Laron James, was picked up on four counts of narcotic and weapon offenses on Wednesday (February 2) following a 10-month-long investigation.

According to authorities, Juelz is a suspected member of the Bloods street gang, and officials raided his New Jersey studio, Santana's World, on January 20. The raid turned up two fully loaded handguns, drug paraphernalia and 17 Ziploc bags containing "a greenish brown vegetation, consistent with the appearance of Marijuana."

Santana has been charged with possession of a firearm and a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a handgun without having a permit, possession with intent to distribute a controlled dangerous substance, and possession with intent to distribute a controlled dangerous substance within 1,000 feet of a school zone. The MC's bail has been set at $125,000, and Santana was taken into custody. An officer confirmed to MTV News that the Dipset spitter had just arrived at Bergen County Jail at press time.

Santana's arrest comes just weeks after Santana's Skull Gang associate Hynief, born Toby M. Raynor, was jailed immediately after the January raid. Police allege he distributed marijuana to an undercover cop twice last summer, and he was later released after being held on $50,000 bail.

"It's been some legal issue, I know it's been all over the Internet," Santana recently said of the raid. "Police ran up in my studio. I had to deal with that and a couple things."

Despite the bust, Santana maintained he was staying out of trouble and argued that officials were specifically targeting him. "They always picking on me — that's the best way I can put it," he continued. "But by the graces of God, everything should be OK. I wasn't caught with anything in my possession."
Santana's reps hadn't responded to MTV News' request for comment by press time.

MTV.com