Brazen illegal NYC pot shop tries to use truck to reopen after bust

Metro

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By Carl Campanile

An unlicensed cannabis shop in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn called “Gelato” got shut down for the second time in a matter of weeks — after workers tried to reopen in the same location using a weed-dealing truck.

Last month, cops raided and padlocked the business after a defiant pot-puffing worker dared authorities to shut down the shop during a Post interview.

On Friday, the illicit pot peddlers brazenly parked a mobile pot-selling truck in front of the same address of their shuttered storefront.

The vehicle had the same marijuana logo emblazoned on its side as the padlocked storefront. 

Neighbors were not amused.

They took pictures and notified their local Brooklyn Community Board 10 and authorities of the defiant weed dealers.

The city’s cannabis cops swooped in and seized the truck filled with marijuana and other cannabis products.

“It’s not an ice cream truck,” said Community Board 10 district manager Josephine Beckmann.

“It’s quite brazen. They had not received a cannabis license and they were already closed by the sheriff’s office and the NYPD,” she said.

Mayor Eric Adams’ cannabis enforcers said they’re not going to be treated like suckers by illegal pot peddlers.

“We’re closing the brick and mortar stores, so they’re now using mobile trucks,” said city Sheriff Anthony Miranda, who oversees cannabis enforcement with the help the NYPD.

“They had the same artwork from the store painted on the truck,”  he said — adding the the sheriff’s office seized the vehicle.

Under a new state law, local authorities have more power to close illicit cannabis storefronts and mobile trucks.

About 200 cannabis stores have been padlocked following joint inspections by the sheriff’s office and the NYPD.

The city estimates there are more than 2,000 shops illegally selling cannabis and other smokes, so there’s a ways to go.

Currently, there are just 58 licensed cannabis operators in New York City, and 130 statewide, according the state Office of Cannabis Management.

“People are bent on breaking the law. They have no intention of participating in the legal market,” Miranda said.

On Saturday, police discovered millions of dollars worth of illegal marijuana products in a Brooklyn warehouse.

Cops responded to a burglary in progress at 65 Adelphi Street around 5:30 a.m. when they found three men inside and a “large quantity of marijuana and THC products,” police said.

The products were unregulated cannabis sent from overseas to be distributed to illegal pot shops throughout the Big Apple, a source told The Post.

Among the pre-packaged contraband were marijuana and THC gummies.

Cops hope that cutting off the illegal pot suppliers will help choke off the unlicensed market.

The Adams administration launched “Operation Padlock” three weeks ago, utilizing a tougher state law recently approved by Gov. Kathy Hochul and the legislature, to speed up the crackdown of unlicensed pot shops.

In other matters, OCM executive director Chris Alexander announced he’s stepping down after Hochul’s team issued a damning report on the office, called for an overhaul and admitted the rollout of the legal cannabis market was a “disaster.”

His resignation was first reported Saturday by NY1/Spectrum News and The City.