FOUR ASTORIA MEN ACCUSED OF BEING COCAINE AND HASHISH DEALERS; ALLEGEDLY USED THEIR APARTMENTS AS DRUG WAREHOUSE

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that four Astoria men have been charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal possession of marihuana for allegedly using their apartments as "stash houses" to package, store and deal in illegal drugs.

District Attorney Brown said, "The defendants were alleged to have been dealing drugs by packaging them in their apartment and then selling them out of coffee shops and social clubs on Steinway Street in Astoria. This investigation is another example of the continuing cooperation between police and prosecutors in the never-ending fight against illegal drugs. Whether a drug operation is large or small, on the street or in a living room, law enforcement will wipe it out and send the drug dealers to prison."

District Attorney Brown identified the defendants as Abdelhak Kairouani, 43, and Noureedin Mzouz, 38, both of 21-75 Steinway Street, Astoria, Queens and Abdelaziz Tahri, 45, and Azelmad Abdelghani, 43, both residents of 31-44 44th Street, Astoria, Queens. The defendants are variously charged with Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Third and Fourth Degree, Criminal Possession of Marihuana in the First and Fifth Degrees and Criminally Using Drug Paraphernalia in the Second Degree and face up to 15 to 25 years in prison if convicted.

According to the District Attorney, the joint investigation by New York City Police Department Narcotics Borough Queens detectives and members of the District Attorney’s Narcotics Investigation Bureau began early last month and included sophisticated surveillance techniques.

District Attorney Brown said that based on information developed during the investigation, which is ongoing, detectives last week executed several search warrants at coffee shops and social clubs on Steinway Street, the apartments at 31-44 44th Street and 21-75 Steinway Street in Astoria and at a safe deposit box at the First Central Savings Bank at 35-01 30 th Avenue in Astoria. Inside the apartments detectives recovered 18 bricks of hashish weighing over 38 pounds, two grams of marihuana, an ounce of cocaine, $2,500 in cash, a shotgun, various Moroccan passports, various other identification and a key to a safe deposit box. Inside the safe deposit box, detectives recovered an additional $36,000 in cash and additional Moroccan passports and other identification.

The District Attorney said that, according to the charges, the drugs were found in the bedrooms of the apartment occupied by Kairouani and Mzouz and that numerous tinfoils containing cocaine and hashish were found in clothing hanging on a bedpost and in other locations in the apartment.

The investigation leading to the arrests and charges was carried out by Detectives Daniel Svenelid and Timothy Gentz and other members of the New York City Police Department's Narcotics Borough Queens which is under the supervision of Inspector Thomas Mullen and Lieutenant James Darcy and the overall supervision of Assistant Chief William Taylor commanding officer of the Narcotics Division and Organized Crime Control Bureau Chief William A. Morange.

Assistant District Attorney Frank L. Perrone, Jr., of the District Attorney's Narcotics Investigations Bureau, which is under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Wilbert LeMelle and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney Peter A. Crusco, is prosecuting the cases.

It should be noted that a criminal complaint is merely an accusation and that the defendants are innocent until proven guilty.