Brooklyn cannabis bust: NYPD seizes millions in illegal weed

Illegal cannabis bust in Brooklyn

"Operation Padlock" was in the process of shutting down a warehouse in Brooklyn after a 911 call about a burglary led authorities to millions of dollars of illegal weed. FOX 5 NY's Michelle Ross reports.

BROOKLYN - Millions of dollars worth of illegal cannabis products stored in a Brooklyn warehouse are now in the possession of law enforcement.

FOX 5 NY's Michelle Ross said this is one of the biggest busts for the city. The Sheriff's Office said this warehouse is one of the locations that restocks the bodegas and unlicenced smoke shops that aren't legally selling cannabis.

"We discovered a variety of THC, flower, pre-rolls edibles, oils, concentrates," Maureen Kokeas of the New York City's Sheriff's Office said.

Police discovered the cannabis products on Friday night when they responded to a burglary call at the location on Adelphi Street. The NYPD caught three suspects in the act and when the police saw all the packaged items, they called the Sheriff's Office.

"We go out as a team every day, and we're sealing these locations to take these unregulated products off the street," Kokeas said.

A joint task force made up of members from the Sheriff's Office, the NYPD, and the city's Department of Consumer and Worker Protection Padlock, sealed and shut down illegal smoke shops.

Earlier in May, they sealed 75 locations and issued about $6 million in penalties, but the warehouse appeared to have fallen in the lap of law enforcement, and shutting it down removes the source for many illegally-run stores.

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"It's just a whole distribution network that is supplying all the bodegas and illegal cannabis shops throughout New York City," Kokeas said.

In total, more than 200 illegal smoke shops have been sealed and busts at smoke shops tend to be around $100,000. The Sheriff's Office says it's keeping these products out of the hands of young people.

"This is just one of many places where they're storing millions of dollars worth of illegal unregulated products that are being processed in packages that are geared to attract children to illegal products," Kokeas said.

The Sheriff's Office also says it's important to shut down illegal cannabis warehouses so that the legal ones can make money and flourish.

The city says the investigation is continuing.