Store owners want cash seized in NYC marijuana crackdown back amid investigation
NEW YORK -- Some store owners who got raided during an illegal marijuana crackdown in New York City say the officers should not have seized their cash.
And now, some are wondering whether an investigation into the New York City Sheriff's Office could get them their money back.
When police raided a Queens bodega in July, owner Abdulatif Ahmed says he was confused and frustrated because law enforcement emptied his cash register.
"Of course I was sad," Ahmed said. "I got a family to feed. I got four children, you know?"
Ahmed insists the pot police seized belonged to a now-fired employee and his store, which was forced to close down after the raids but has since reopened, wasn't selling cannabis.
It was one of several stores raided in a crackdown on illegal pot shops by the NYPD and Sheriff's Office.
DOI visits NYC Sheriff's Long Island City offices
Sources tell CBS News New York the city's Department of Investigation is looking into whether the Sheriff's Office improperly seized cash in any of the raids. The probe took investigators to the sheriff's Long Island City offices Thursday after the DOI received a report of cash that hadn't been properly secured or recorded.
Ahmed wonders if any of that cash could be his.
"You know, every dollars count. I hope I get my money back," Ahmed said.
The NYPD said the cash seized from his store was "vouchered as safekeeping," but Ahmed said he isn't convinced.
Sheriff Miranda says NYPD handles seized cash
At a City Council hearing earlier this month, attorney Nadia Kahnauth, who is representing the owners of other stores that got raided, expressed similar concerns.
"We want to know where is the cash? Especially in the case where there is a dismissal, where there is a dismissal and no violation found, the store cab be reopened. Where is the money? There is absolutely no method to locate the money," Kahnauth said.
Sheriff Anthony Miranda told that City Council committee that the NYPD, not the Sheriff's Office, handles the seized cash.
Miranda was appointed by embattled Mayor Eric Adams, who appeared in court Friday on federal bribery charges.
"This guy has closed down 1,100 smoke shops. From my understanding of the procedure, when they [take] voucher money, it's videoed and it's counted with the NYPD and the sheriff's office," Adams said earlier this week. "So, yes, I have confidence he's doing the job that New York is asking him to do."
