Long Island cops raid 26 illegal weed stores in a week, seizing 15K products: officials
The countywide crackdown just began May 20 but has already seen 44 smoke shops or convenience stores raided and resulted in seven arrests and five businesses getting shut down permanently, according to police.
'We are not going to allow the proliferation of illegal marijuana shops in this county,' Suffolk Executive Ed Romaine told reporters at a news conference at police headquarters in Yaphank.
3 A large-scale raid cracking down on illegal cannabis products across Suffolk County led to 26 unlicensed stores being caught with over 15,000 illegal weed products.
Dennis A. Clark
'Under the law, we not only padlock their business, but we seize all of their products,' Romaine added, saying the county will likely incinerate the seized products.
Police said the biggest busts so far came from raids on Cloud Nine V in Farmingville; Simply Green in Coram; Vape Guru in Bay Shore; and The Norm smoke shop in Patchogue.
Suffolk Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina also revealed the raids found some of these storefronts selling illegal fireworks, magic mushroom chocolate bars from Colorado — and flavored vape pods to minors.
He told The Post that the police worked together with town officials from all over Suffolk County to identify locations that were possibly selling weed illegally.
3 Suffolk Executive Ed Romaine told reporters at a news conference, 'We are not going to allow the proliferation of illegal marijuana shops in this county.'
Dennis A. Clark
3 The biggest busts came from Cloud Nine V in Farmingville; Simply Green in Coram; Vape Guru in Bay Shore; and The Norm smoke shop in Patchogue.
Dennis A. Clark
'The places that we hit, we asked our precinct commanders and our elected townspeople to give us the spots that were the most problematic in our communities, and those are the spots that we targeted,' Catalina said of the raids.
Officials promised more raids to come.
'This isn't just about legality, it's more about safety,' said Suffolk Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr., whose department worked in collaboration with police to conduct the raids.
'Products sold outside of regulated channels can be dangerous and untested,' said Toulon Jr., referring to THC vape products.
Officials said the operation will continue indefinitely — with dozens more shops already in their crosshairs.
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