$10M in illegal cannabis product seized from Queens warehouse

NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz on Friday announced the seizure of approximately four tons of illegal cannabis and cannabis product from a storage facility earlier this week.

Awad Aziz, 31, and Muneer Kassim, 34, both of Brooklyn were arraigned Thursday night on charges of criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal possession of cannabis for allegedly storing and producing the illegal product.

Members of the NYPD launched an investigation into the warehouse at the beginning of August.

A search warrant was secured for the location at 88-08 Little Neck Parkway in Floral Park which was executed at approximately 6 p.m. on Sept. 17. Inside, officials discovered a large quantity of cannabis and cannabis products worth $10,000,000, as well as a smaller quantity of crystal meth and numerous products labeled as containing psilocybin, known as magic mushrooms.

In addition to the extensive storage area, officials found a separate area where concentrated cannabis products were allegedly produced by pressing the vegetative cannabis to obtain the liquid extract, which would then be loaded into plastic cartridges.

The total amount of illegal, unregulated product was loaded into two dump trucks, weighing approximately four tons, or 8,000 pounds.

Both Aziz and Kassim were arrested near the premises at the time of the search.

They are set to return to court on Nov. 12.

If convicted, they each face a potential maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison.

"The proliferation of illegal cannabis shops in our neighborhoods are supplied by large warehouse operations without any oversight or regulations in place. We are targeting these locations to prevent dangerous, unregulated and untaxed products from being sold in our communities," District Attorney Katz said.