American rap star Juelz Santana has been sentenced to over two and a half years in prison for attempting to smuggle drugs and a gun on board an aircraft in New York.

Santana – real name LaRon James, aged 36 – was sentenced Wednesday (December 19th) to 27 months in prison, after pleading guilty back in August to possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and carrying a weapon on an aircraft, according to Rolling Stone.

In March this year, he was stopped by security officers at Newark Airport in New Jersey as he tried to board a flight to San Francisco, after a loaded .38-caliber handgun and “a controlled dangerous substance”, believed to be non-prescription oxycodone pills, were found in his carry-on bag. He initially fled the airport in a taxi, leaving his bags behind, but handed himself in two days later.

Juelz SantanaJuelz Santana has been imprisoned for 27 months

According to local media reports, the sentence is a result of Santana having accepted a plea agreement to serve between two to five years in prison. At this time, it is unknown when the star will need to turn himself in to start serving his sentence, as he’s due to perform a gig at Long Island in the next few days.

It’s not Santana’s first brush with the law. In 2013, he was given two years’ probation for assaulting his then-girlfriend and a woman who tried to break up their fight. In 2011, a police raid of his New Jersey studio resulted in two loaded handguns and 17 dime bags of marijuana being discovered.

Juelz Santana first broke onto the scene 15 years ago, when his 2003 debut album From Me To U reached number 8 in the Billboard albums chart. Last month, his group The Diplomats released their first studio album in 14 years, titled Diplomatic Ties.

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