NY Drug Busts
Sometimes, drug busts can happen under the strangest of circumstances. Right before Christmas, law enforcement busted suspected marijuana grow house in a Manhattan apartment building around lunch time.
According to reports, firefighters responded to reports of high gas levels in the building. Eventually, they traced the origins of gas to two apartments on the fifth floor of the building. The fourth and fifth floors of the building were evacuated until the gas levels could level off to safer levels as a precaution.
Police entered into the apartments, and no one was in there, although they are currently pulling records to ascertain the identity of the resident. Inside was a grow house, with multiple plants and growing equipment – all of which was confiscated by the police.
Unfortunately, gases emitted by grow houses can be dangerous and deadly. Over two years ago, the FDNY responded to another call about a gas leak over in the Bronx. The home in question was being used as a grow house. The individuals who used it covered the second-floor windows with foil in a way that did not allow leaking gas to ventilate.
When the FDNY was investigating the source of the leak, a dramatic explosion of the house blew the slate roof off. One of the slates hit 44-year-old FDNY chief, killing him instantly. Immediately before the explosion, he had told one of the defendants to leave the building, essentially saving his life.
The two individuals responsible for the grow house pleaded guilty and were ultimately sentenced to four and six years respectively imprisonment for second-degree manslaughter and first-degree criminal possession of marijuana.
Over in Queens, a passenger in JFK airport was allegedly attempting to smuggle another drug into the country through bottles of Bailey’s Irish Cream. A man named Akeem Rasheen Lewis allegedly smuggled cocaine in liquor bottles contained in a duty-free bag.
Unfortunately for him, it was clear to customs officers that the bottles had been tampered with. Upon further searches, the officers found cocaine within the liquor bottles, with an estimated street value of about $115,000.00.
Finally, over in Montauk, Long Island, at least a dozen employees of various bars and restaurants in the Hamptons were arrested for selling drugs from said bars and restaurants. The suspects are accused of obtaining jobs during the high, summer season in order to sell cocaine and oxycodone at inflated prices to patrons and guests.
Closer to the holiday season on Long Island, federal officers busted an apparent drug lab in a home. Law enforcement agents suspect the home was used to manufacture ecstasy and to grow hydroponic marijuana.
Around 63 pounds of pot were seized both at the home in question (allegedly belonging to the suspect’s girlfriend) and the suspect’s home in Queens. He is reported to have enough chemicals to have manufactured nearly 2.5 pounds of MDMA. He faces a mandatory minimum of 5 years for possession of that amount of weed and could face up to 40 years if convicted of all the charges in question.