Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz on May 5 announced the takedown of three illegal cannabis dispensaries and the arrest of five individuals from across the borough and Long Island for their roles in allegedly operating the illegal marijuana shops.
The operation seized two mobile cannabis dispensaries operated out of two trucks in Astoria and an illegal smoke shop in Ozone Park located directly across the street from a middle school. Katz said that the vehicles were impounded and the products were seized during the multi-agency law enforcement operations.
“Unlicensed sellers are undercutting legal vendors as they are just getting started, denying badly needed tax revenues for essential public services,” Katz said. “The illegal outlets also are the focus of numerous community complaints, including for selling hallucinogens and edible marijuana products that have sickened young people and are marketed to children.”
Lara Paola, 32, of 70th Street in Jackson Heights, Tanik Kerr, 42, of Kane Avenue in Hempstead, and Edgar Niyazov, 30, of Queens Boulevard in Rego Park were each charged with criminal possession of cannabis in the third-degree, unlawful sale of cannabis and unlicensed general vending. The defendants each face up to 364 days in jail if convicted.
According to the charges, Paola operated an unlicensed mobile cannabis dispensary called “All The Smoke,” on the corner of 30th Avenue and 33rd Street in Astoria. Kerr and Niyazov operated an unlicensed mobile cannabis dispensary called “Canna Depot,” on the corner of Broadway and 34th Street in Astoria.
During the investigation, undercover detectives from District Attorney Katz’s office made numerous controlled purchases of cannabis from each of the trucks on multiple occasions. On May 3, detectives from the district attorney’s office, along with NYPD officers, executed search
warrants at each of the mobile dispensaries.
More than five pounds of cannabis flower, including hundreds of…
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