{"id":27044,"date":"2013-10-08T19:00:10","date_gmt":"2013-10-08T23:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=27044"},"modified":"2013-10-08T17:36:37","modified_gmt":"2013-10-08T21:36:37","slug":"operation-synthetic-buzz-kill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2013\/10\/operation-synthetic-buzz-kill\/","title":{"rendered":"Operation: Synthetic Buzz Kill"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"LOCAL LEHIGH ACRES BUSINESS<\/strong><\/span> caught selling\u00a0synthetic marijuana, commonly known as “Spice.”<\/p>\n

An undercover operation by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit is spelling trouble for local dealers of synthetic marijuana, commonly known as “Spice.”<\/p>\n

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “Spice” is an herbal mixture that produces experiences similar to marijuana and is marketed as a safe alternative to that drug.\u00a0Last December Florida’s Attorney General issued an emergency order to get “Spice” off store shelves.<\/p>\n

For “Operation: Synthetic\u00a0Buzz Kill” undercover detectives visited two dozen Lee County businesses and found five that were selling “Spice.”\u00a0 The takedown has so far culminated in eight arrests and the confiscation of more than 17,000 (seventeen thousand) packets of illegal drugs with a street value of more than one million dollars.<\/p>\n

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” says Sheriff Mike Scott, who adds that the Operation is on-going and that more arrests are pending.\u00a0\u00a0Scott says the Sheriff’s Office will continue a “no nonsense, hardcore approach” to getting “Spice” off the store shelves and off the streets of Lee County.<\/p>\n

The five businesses caught selling “Spice” are:<\/p>\n

*Sunoco at 3006 Palm Beach Boulevard<\/p>\n

*Shell Station at 18080 S. Tamiami Trail<\/p>\n

*San Carlos Grocery at 18011 S. Tamiami Trail<\/p>\n

*Marathon at 1490 Lee Boulevard<\/span><\/p>\n

*Sunoco at 8671 Littleton Road<\/p>\n

Sheriff Scott says the businesses had fair warning noting that deputies had previously hand delivered letters to stores stating that synthetic marijuana was illegal to possess and sell.\u00a0 “I feel like we’re getting some traction on this issue” says the Sheriff who adds that Narcotics detectives will “stay on top of the situation.”<\/p>\n

Unfortunately,\u00a0“Spice” is being targeted at our children as well; some of it wrapped in packaging that reads\u00a0“Scooby Snacks.”\u00a0 “Parents need to look at what their kids may or may not have,” says the Sheriff.\u00a0 “This stuff is poison.”<\/p>\n

Arrested as of this afternoon are:<\/p>\n

Ashok Varshney, DOB 4-1-47, of 13288 Little Gem Circle, Fort Myers<\/p>\n

Rajesh Patel, DOB 5-15-61, Tampa<\/p>\n

Munaf Rashid, DOB 7-3-65, of 17 SE 20th Place, Cape Coral<\/p>\n

Roxane Rashid, DOB 3-12-64, of 17 SE 20th Place, Cape Coral<\/p>\n

Nilufar Lila, DOB 7-27-71, of Omni Lane, Fort Myers<\/p>\n

Mohammed Islam, DOB 1-1-80, of 8711 Cypress Lake Drive, Fort Myers<\/p>\n

Morshed Khan, DOB 10-10-71, of 2021 River Reach Drive #321, Naples<\/p>\n

Tamanna Khan, DOB 6-5-83, of 2021 River Reach Drive #321, Naples<\/p>\n

Sheriff Scott encourages other businesses that may be selling “Spice” to get it off their shelves immediately or suffer the consequences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOCAL LEHIGH ACRES BUSINESS caught selling\u00a0synthetic marijuana, commonly known as “Spice.” An undercover operation by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Narcotics Unit is spelling trouble for local dealers of synthetic… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":27045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27044"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27044\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}