NYPD raids brazen NYC nightclub, discovers hidden warehouse with $10M worth of illegal drugs: cops
Police seized more than $10 million worth of illegal drugs in a brazen Bronx nightclub that doubled as an illicit warehouse, cops said Saturday.
Complaints from neighbors and a smoke shop inspection at another location led police to request a search warrant for the massive unmarked space that takes up half a block along Timpson Ave and East 147th Street in the Mott Haven neighborhood, cops said.
The joint operation led by the New York City Sherriff’s Office turned up hordes of illegal cannabis, THC concentrate, mushrooms and edibles, along with a handgun, according to Sheriff Anthony Miranda.
“This is probably the largest seizure we’ve taken so far,” Miranda said. “And again this is just the distribution, so that’s how much product they have flowing through this one location.”
The space was being used for storage and packaging of the drugs when not being used as a nightclub, Miranda said Sunday in a press conference.
“It’s a distribution place and it had people coming in and using the product on-site,” Miranda said.
“It is a very sophisticated operation I would say,” said Kaz Daughtry, NYPD deputy commissioner of operations.
The Bronx warehouse is a sign of how extensive illegal cannabis operations in New York City have become, Mayor Eric Adams told reporters after the bust.
“It just goes to show you it’s more than just the places where the signs are located. It is hidden in every part of our city and communities. And we’re going to find it and destroy it,” Adams said.
Hizzoner vowed to find the top dealers and thanked the community for passing along tips about the illegal operation.
Cops began systematically shutting down the city’s roughly 3,400 illegal pot shops after the state legislature earlier this year granted local police the authority to padlock the shops for up to a year immediately after an inspection.
As of early July, the task force had shuttered 535 illicit shops, seizing $17.5 million in illegal cannabis product and doled out over $43 million in civil penalties, the mayor’s office said.
