10 indicted for importing K2 chemicals into New York
MANHATTAN -- In another big sign that the DEA, NYPD and other government agencies are getting serious about wiping out the synthetic marijuana crisis in New York City, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara announced Wednesday the indictments of 10 men.
They’re charged with importing chemical cannabinoids from China, which were used to spray tea leaves, dried plants and other materials to create fake pot, which could be smoked.
The cannabinoids caused the high for smokers, who often called the synthetic marijuana by one of its early brand names, K2.
In recent months, the product was sold “over the counter” in bodegas, delis and smoke shops around the city -- in colorful packages with catchy brand names like AK-47, Geeked Up, Scooby Snax and Matrix.
Users could get it for $5 a pack.
Deli clerks often kept the product in black garbage bags under the counter.
Thousands of smokers around the country have had bad reactions to the stuff, many having seizures and psychotic episodes—which could make them extremely violent.
Even more disturbing, PIX 11 learned there was great concern about millions of dollars being wired overseas to countries like Yemen.
Federal agents were investigating whether the synthetic pot sales were being used to finance terrorism.
Bharara said the 10 men indicted Wednesday — Abdullah Deiban, Faris Nasser Kassim, Morad Nasser Kassim, Nageab Saeed, Walide Saeed, Mohammed Saeed, Hamid Moshref, Mohamed Salem, Mohamed Almatheel, and Fikri Nagi -- were members of an international organization that trafficked, manufactured, and distributed smokeable synthetic marijuana (SSC) in New York City.
DEA Special Agent in Charge, James J. Hunt, said, “There is a misconception that synthetic cannabinoids are safe -- they are a toxic cocktail of lethal chemicals created in China and then disguised as plant material here in New York City.”
Police Commissioner William Bratton noted, “This is a scourge on our society, affecting the most disadvantaged neighborhoods and our most challenged citizens. If affects teenagers in public housing, homeless in the city shelter system, and it’s quite literally flooding our streets.”
PIX11 Investigates started exposing the extent of the synthetic marijuana crisis back in July, after five, Harlem delis were investigated.
Residents and office workers in East Harlem were calling a stretch of Lexington Avenue--between 124th and 126th Streets--“K2 Boulevard,” after that popular brand-name for the smokeable drug.
Our cameraman, John Frasse, and I literally stumbled on two men having seizures on Lexington Avenue — within 50 yards of each other.
Residents said 14 ambulances a day were sometimes summoned to this tiny stretch of Lexington.
As of early September, about 6,000 calls had been made to poison control centers nationwide, with reports of bad reactions to the drug.
Thousands of packets of the product — with names like Wet Lucy, Scooby Snax, Geeked Up and AK-47 -- were removed from several shops in Harlem.
In August, PIX 11 revealed the disturbing synthetic pot problem near the 165th Street Bus Terminal in Jamaica, Queens — where drug abusers were buying the stuff at candy and smoke shops nearby.
PIX 11 learned a lot of the “processing” of the K2 happened at facilities in the Bronx.
At least three warehouses and storage facilities were raided in the Bronx Wednesday, where the product was thought to be processed—and then stored—before it was distributed to retailers.
10 indicted for importing K2 chemicals into New York
