The city’s Operation Padlock to Protect team smoked out yet another illegal cannabis operation in the Bronx this week, shutting down a fully functioning grow house in an apartment building.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams and other city officials announced the bust during a press conference on Thursday at the location — 923 Kelly St. in the borough’s Woodstock neighborhood.
Padlock to Protect, the city’s initiative to shut down illegal pot shops, became aware of the operation when NYC Marshals attempted to deliver an eviction notice to the person living in the basement apartment, authorities said.
The marshals called the NYC Sheriff’s Office when, instead of a lived-in dwelling, they discovered an elaborate cannabis-growing operation inside the apartment.
The system included a full nursery with full-grown plants, extensive air filtration, irrigation, cooling and lighting systems. Law enforcement officers also found propane tanks at the location, adding to the danger of having a grow house in an apartment dwelling.
“At this site, we seized 93 growing cannabis plants and 24 pounds of loose cannabis flower,” Adams said. “This was an illegal operation that put the legal market and neighbors jeopardy.”
Adams stressed the dangers of growing cannabis inside an apartment.
“Growing cannabis in an apartment presents a serious danger to families, neighbors and communities,” Adams said. “These illegal operations, you don’t know what is going on on these plants.”
Queens Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar, a frequent presence at Mayor Adams’ press events and a vocal advocate against illegal pot shops, said illegal pot shops attract crime in communities throughout the state.
“These illegal cannabis shops are hot beds of criminal activity,” she said. “They are magnets for crime. They also market candy to children. It’s illegal cannabis that looks like candy.
To date, Mayor Adams said, the city has confiscated $68 million of illegal cannabis and closed more than 1,000 illegal shops within the Big Apple.
City officials could not confirm how long the processing system was up and running, but Adams said it was “not made yesterday.”
No one was inside the apartment at the time Marshals arrived; so far, no arrests have been made. Adams noted that the investigation is ongoing.
