Two people have been arrested in what the Bartholomew County Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team (JNET) calls a “multi-year investigation into methamphetamine dealing in Columbus and south central Indiana.” Investigators say those arrested have ties to Mexican drug cartels.
Lt. Matt Harris, spokesman for the Columbus Police Department, says that on Friday morning, JNET detectives with assistance from the Columbus Police Department K-9 Division, the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office, Indiana State Police and the Drug Enforcement Agency, served a search warrant at 372 Center Street in Columbus. During the raid, officers arrested 50-year-old Lucilma Santana, of Columbus. Earlier in the investigation, detectives learned the Lucilma’s husband, 53-year-old Miguel P. Santana, had allegedly fled the state and was living in Florida.
Harris says that officers from the Seymour Indiana SWAT Team and the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office in Florida) also served search warrants simultaneously at separate locations on Friday. However, Miguel Santana was not found.
At approximately 2:30 p.m. on Friday, an officer with the Houston Police Department in Texas stopped Miguel Santana for a minor traffic violation. During the stop, the officer confirmed that there were multiple felony methamphetamine dealing warrants out for Santana’s arrest. He was then arrested, without incident.
Narcotics investigators say that the husband and wife were major players in the local drug trade and were believed to be involved in two large profile drug busts made in 2016 in Bartholomew County. One bust was on South Gladstone Avenue and the other at the Hilltop Mobile Home Park. In the last 18 months, Harris says that detectives have arrested approximately one dozen associates of the Santana’s on narcotics charges. Authorities have also seized over 30 pounds of methamphetamine and over $300,000 in cash.
Lucilma Santana was arrested on a warrant for Dealing in Methamphetamine, a Level 2 Felony.
Miguel Santana is behind bars in Texas on four warrants for Dealing in Methamphetamine. Police say that he will be extradited back to Indiana.
The Joint Narcotics Enforcement Team is a combined unit of the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office, the Columbus Police Department and the Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s Office. The team is tasked with proactively targeting the manufacturing and abuse of dangerous drugs in Columbus and Bartholomew County. JNET is thanking the other law enforcement agencies who have taken part in this case. They include: the Seymour Police Department, Jennings County Sheriff’s Office, Indiana State Police, DEA, Houston Texas Police Department and the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.
Harris says that the investigation is ongoing and that additional charges are expected.