SOUTHINGTON, Conn. — Four smoke shop owners in Southington are in custody Thursday for having an illegal amount of cannabis in their stores, according to a police press release.
They are all charged with possession with intent to sell more than 1 kilogram of cannabis and possession of more than 8 oz of cannabis or related product.
Throughout three Southington smoke shops, more than 1,000 THC product packages and 75 pounds of marijuana costing more than $2,000 were seized, according to police.
Concerned citizens and the Southing STEPS Coalition sent tips to the Southington Police Department in April. According to the press release, the group and members of the public were worried about “the sale of vape products to underage people and the sale of THC products from several ‘smoke shops.’”
Police arrested the owners of PuffCity, Cigar N Vape and K&M Smoke Shop. The New Britain Superior Court signed “four arrest warrants for the owners of these businesses,” the press release said.
These are the men who were arrested:
Torun Okten, 67 – $30,000 bond
Hasmit Kharbanda, 43 – $5,000 bond
Mohamed Alwishah, 30 – $5,000 bond
Khaled Ahmed, 28– $5,000 bond
All of them except for Okten have appeared in court. He’s expected to appear in court on July 24.
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