SMITHFIELD – On Friday, the North Carolina Alcohol Law Enforcement (ALE) Division along with the Smithfield Police Department executed a search warrant at Mr. Smoke & Vape, located at 1547 East Market Street, Suite 102, in Smithfield.
The investigation began after receiving a request from Smithfield Police Department who received complaints alleging illegal drug sales.
During the search, ALE agents said they seized over 11 pounds of marijuana, drug paraphernalia, one rifle, one handgun, and U.S. currency.
The following individuals have been charged in connection with the operation:
Wail Jamal Ahmed Al Saidi, 21, of Clinton, the co-owner of Mr. Smoke & Vape, has be charged with the following:
- Trafficking marijuana by possession
- Felony possession of marijuana
- Possess With Intent to Sell/Deliver marijuana
- Felony maintain a store for keeping and selling controlled substances
- Felony conspiracy to sell marijuana
- Marijuana paraphernalia
Taher Ahmed Al Lahabi, 48, of Clayton, the co-owner of Mr. Smoke & Vape, has been charged with:
- Trafficking marijuana by possession
- Felony possession of marijuana
- Possess With Intent to Sell/Deliver marijuana
- Felony maintain a store for keeping and selling controlled substances
- Felony conspiracy to sell marijuana
- Marijuana paraphernalia
Edwin Tyler Lusk, 19, of Smithfield, an employee at Mr. Smoke & Vape, has been charged with:
- Felony possession of marijuana
- Marijuana paraphernalia
“This is a great example of agencies working together to make our communities safer”, said Smithfield Police Chief Pete Hedrick. “This investigation began with a tip and through diligent efforts by ALE resulted in a significant seizure of illegal narcotics. I am proud of both agencies’ commitment to making Smithfield a great place to live and shop.”
taking out the non-violent pot dealer when people are out here ODing on fentanyl is laughable. this isn’t a flex. go get the bad guys next time.
based
Another bummed customer
This is the THANKS our NEWCOMERS gets for crossing our southern borders and creating new businesses that in return makes new jobs? These herbs are probably legal in the country this NEWCOMER is from and will be legal here if we get our NEWCOMERS register to vote and VOTE BLUE!!!
While you’re at it, can you create an ordinance to limit the brightness of the LED lights these type of stores blind us with as we drive by?
AMEN!!!!!
Another vape shop selling illegal drugs, imagine that! Oh and another 21 year old owning this type of business… something smells fishy!
No, that is a smoke screen you are smelling.
Our state lawmakers have created a situation where the same substance can either be completely unregulated or felonious for mere possession based on an arbitrary rule regarding its harvest. Shame to this police force for continuing to brand individuals like these as cold hard criminals poisoning our society while fentanyl and other opiates continue to plague our community. PS I wouldn’t consider a city policing my autonomy and personal decisions that I make in privacy as a “great place to live”.
These all sound like unhappy customers of the vape shops
The store was selling legal products and fantastic job by the police to flip the labeled jar around to make it look like they were selling something illegal.
Mannn they’ve been hitting all the shops in all surrounding counties Sampson Duplin Cumberland Robeson and now Johnston they on it
Seems to becoming a common thing with the vape/cigarette shops
I don’t believe it was a “TIP” . They were looking for someone to GET. so they started an INVESTIGATION. if nothing was found in the INVESTIGATION, they would move on to someone else. Tsk Tsk 😏🙄
All of these smoke shops would not exist if it wasn’t for Farm Bill 2018.
ALE are violating the NC law SB 455. These are illegal seizures . NC law allows CBD flower and allows thca if it’s under .3%thc and all of these tobacco shops have lab results
It’s all delta 8 hemp none of it is illegal delta 9, delta 8 and other hemp products like cbd is legal here, they will be released by Monday, people need to check their laws before giving anonymous tips
To all the people saying “it’s just pot”, I get it. Seems no worse than alcohol as far as I’m concerned . However, it is still illegal in North Carolina and if you don’t like that…move somewhere where it is legal and have at it. To blame police for enforcing laws is ridiculous. Keep up the good work LEO’s, the same ones whining about you will be the ones calling you when someone hits them when they’re driving, gets robbed by someone or gets assaulted.
Stop arresting people for marijuana, and go after people who are doing real damage: the fentanyl dealers. This is like a participation trophy for these agencies.
I don’t get it you can drank alcohol but can’t smoke weed help me understand?
ALE is known to be the biggest thieves all they care about is the money, the thca is totally legal federally if they’re not happy about it ban it
it’s thca it’s federally legal? they got nothing to do with they lives go find real drug dealers instead of someone that’s doing things right
Great job by the Ale flipping jars of legal THCA to make it look like the owner was selling something illegal, even look at the picture you’ll see the label on the other side. No testing of the flower before they came to the location as well at this point it’s just the ALE messing with small business owners sending out hail marries to see if they can do anything to make it stick. That’s why they raided 70 stores in Jacksonville and only arrested 4 people total.
This is laughable at best. These enforcement agencies wasting their time and tax payer money opening investigations and apparently not thoroughly doing their job before arresting these individuals for selling a legal substance. As many people above me in the comments have stated, THC-A is legal to sell and you can go in nearly any vape shop in the state and they are all selling it in flower form, in edibles, etc. I hope this business not only gets their product back but also gets the money back that the ALE confiscated and these agents find something better to do, like i don’t know, go get some real drug dealers off the street. In 2022, there was 200 people dying DAILY from fentanyl in the US. This is everything that is wrong with our country. People in powerful positions that can actually have an impact are worried about the wrong s**t.
Hmmmm…. Last time I checked marijuana is illegal in the state of NC. Also, sorry to burst you’re “Law and Order” law knowledge, but if it wasn’t illegal then the Magistrate would not have found probable cause for the arrest and charges. Make sure to put your “Law” degree back in the crackerjack box and actually post facts not opinions… For the record, the THC level does matter so those facts were correct, good job with reporting truth and facts.
I’ll just be happy when i can find some real weed. Some that won’t choke me when i take a toke. I’m a prime canidate for medical weed , but since it’s still illegal everywhere except on the reservation i can’t get it. So i suffer. It’s great for my ptsd.