A father and son team of alleged drug dealers along with a store employee were arrested and charged Wednesday afternoon with multiple narcotics charges.
Sheriff Armando Fontoura stated that the task force yesterday executed a search warrant for Mike’s Deli and Grocery, located at 360 Bloomfield Avenue in the city’s North Ward.
Detained at the scene were Mr. Maher Aldabbas, 55 of Clifton, his son, Mr. Mouhammed Aldabbas, 27 of Newark, and their employee, Mr. Ronald Piacenza, 47 of Belleville.
Police said the search yielded nearly 5,300 grams of synthetic marijuana, or ‘K2’ as it is known on the streets, which the suspects allegedly secreted in various locations throughout the deli.
Police also discovered $376 in currency and drug packaging materials authorities said.
The street value of the narcotics is more than $50,000.
Fontoura noted that in the past five months, more 50 overdose cases of synthetic cannabinoids, requiring hospitalization of the victims, have been reported in Newark.
“Many of the victims appear to come from our local homeless population,” Fontoura noted. “These manufactured drugs affect the brain much more powerfully than marijuana, and their effects are unpredictable and, in some cases, severe or even life-threatening.”
Maher and Mouhammed Aldabbas were both charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession of CDS with intent to distribute, possession of drug paraphernalia and conspiracy to violate New Jersey’s narcotics laws.
Piacenza was found to have open drug warrants issued by the Newark municipal court.
All three suspects were lodged at the county jail where the Aldabbas’s await a bail hearing, and Piacenza awaits a court appearance on his prior drug charge.