An open-air drug transaction led a team of Queens cops to a group of ID forgers and enough narcotics to fill a very long table.
“It was great to take such a large amount of drugs off the streets of Flushing,” said Police Officer Andrzej Maziarz of the 109 Precinct Anti-Crime Team “The marijuana weighed almost 200 pounds and it has a street value of over 400,000 dollars.”
Policer officers in Flushing recovered approximately 193 lbs. of marijuana after they observed a drug transaction taking place on a Queens street. On Tuesday March 13 at 2:30 p.m., members of the 109th Precinct Anti-Crime Team were on patrol in Flushing when they noticed three men exchanging money and marijuana. The officers observed one of the men examining a vacuum sealed brick of marijuana in front of a residence on 58 Avenue. The men fled into the house when they saw the police officers but they were subsequently arrested. Two large bags filled with bricks of vacuum sealed marijuana were recovered in front of the home. The police officers noticed similar bags inside the location and glassine envelops of suspected narcotics in plain view.
They obtained a search warrant and recovered:
163 bricks of marijuana
22 glassine envelops of ketamine
A machine used to make counterfeit identification cards
The officers recovered the ID-making machine and evidence that the suspects were making machine to produce forged Massachusetts state identification cards. This type of device is often used by identity thieves to manufacture fraudulent cards.
There were six arrests made as a result of the initial incident and the search warrant.
Arrested:
Male 37
Male 30
Male 28
Male 23
Female 28
Female 26
Charges:
Criminal Possession of Marijuana
Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance
Criminal Possession of a Forgery Device
