BAYSIDE, Queens (PIX11) — Two people are under arrest after investigators raided the Bayside Convenience store at 40-13 Bell Boulevard in Queens.
Law enforcement sources tell PIX 11 News that the store owners had rigged up a makeshift pulley system and chutes to bring the product into the ground-level store from a “stash house” in an apartment on the building’s second floor.
People familiar with the case say at least $10 million in illegal products were seized during the execution of a search warrant on Thursday morning. It includes 526 pounds of cannabis flower, 417 THC vapes, 284 pounds of cannabis edibles, and 1637 flavored vapes.
Investigators on the case said the “smoke shop had become a complete nuisance for the community.”
One man who works nearby, but didn’t want to be identified, told PIX 1 News, “There was always something suspicious going on here, it seemed, the business was too quick and fast.”
The storefront remains closed, and a partial vacate order is in effect for the apartments upstairs. In addition to the stash house, sources say at least four people were illegally living in a second apartment since the space is zoned commercial.
