The state’s largest drug conspiracy indicted in a stat court has been broken up.

Aided by the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department and other law enforcement, 487 charges have been filed against 100 defendants in a “Prison Empire” investigation

SC Attorney General Alan Wilson announced about 2 kilograms of methamphetamine, 5 kilos of heroin, 1. kilograms of cocaine and 8 firearms have been seized.

The drugs were trafficked throughout South Carolina primarily in the Upstate.

Other crimes in the indictments were burglary and kidnapping.

The investigation uncovered gang and Mexican dru source involvement.

“This case shows the importance of our state grand jury and its ability to investigate statewide cases that cross jurisdictional lines,” Wilson said.

“It highlights what we’ve been talking about for years now — the danger of contraband cell phones and ho prison inmates use them to commit more crimes even while behind bars.”

Both Wilson and South Carolina Department of Corections Director Bryan Stirling said current and forme inmates used contraband cell phones in SC prisons to operate the drug schemes.

At least 2 inmates had ce phones and meth when the were rounded up this week for bond hearings.

The investigation also uncovered drug smuggling into prison by a member of an unnamed law firm, Wilson said

A paralegal at the law fir used hollowed out documents in legal mail to smuggle meth into the prison.

“This is one more tragic example of the damage illegal cell phones do in the hands of inmates,” Stirling said. “The public would be safer if we were able to block cell phone signals.”

Federal law bars state prions from jamming contraband cellphones used by inmates inside prison walls.

Stirling has argued for th ability to jam cellphone signals in state prisons, which would make contraband phones useless.

But he has faced opposition from cellphone makers who say jamming devices could interfere with phones outside prisons.

In 2019, a US Departmen of Justice field test at Broad River Correctional Institution in Columbia showed how the signals can be blocked and not interfere with non-prison phones, Stirling said.

Since 2015, the Department of Corrections said it has confiscated more than 25,000 cell phones and accessories inside prisons.