Behind the unmarked doors of a small storefront was what NYC Sheriff Anthony Miranda described as a million-dollar illegal weed operation, one that included the packaging of marijuana and edible candies, and the use of chemical flavors among other potential toxins being mixed with concentrated THC.
"Everything that we say presents a certain danger to children and to the health of the people who want to legally participate in the market is at this location," Miranda said.
The sheriff-led task force, which now has the power to padlock illegal weed shops after inspections, is collecting a mountain of evidence including 50 pounds of raw cannabis.
Police arrested two people and found packaging items like phony labels claiming the product was from California.
"The false labeling, the false packaging, those will be additional felony charges that they will be facing, now it moves from a civil enforcement to a criminal investigation," Miranda said.
This is the first illegal weed distribution location in the city, that the task force has raided that also has an elaborate printing press, which cranks out all kinds of colorful labels for edibles.
"This violates every single rule that you can think of that has been constituted by the State Office of Cannabis Management," Miranda said.
Including the one that says that cannabis products cannot have labels that appeal to kids.
All this was going on right under the noses of neighbors on this residential block of Avenue T.
Residents told Eyewitness News reporter Sonia Rincon that the storefront had an awning that said, "Pushing P on T," but that disappeared a few months ago.
"It shut down. I don't know, after that, what they are doing," said neighbor Chris Wong.
Another neighbor suspects this wholesale operation developed after the store closed.
Sheriff Miranda says shutting this place down will probably impact other illegal weed stores in the region that have been buying the items packaged here: shops that have been getting shut down one by one thanks to complaints.
"Community complaints are extremely important," Miranda said. "They're the first ones who observe these locations opening and operating illegally."
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