BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — A smoke shop that officials say sold K2 near a Brooklyn intersection dubbed the epicenter of a synthetic marijuana epidemic has been shut down.
The NYPD filed nuisance-abatement actions against the Big Boy Deli at 930 Broadway and the Dream Burner Smoke Shop at 926 Broadway this week in Brooklyn Supreme Court, as first reported by the Daily News.
Both businesses had been suspected of selling K2, police said.
Last week, 33 people overdosed on the drug near the intersection of Broadway and Myrtle Avenue on the Bed-Stuy-Bushwick border, with people seen vomiting and collapsed on the street.
Authorities can use the nuisance-abatement law to target locations where illegal activity is suspected and shut them down.
A judge signed an order temporarily closing the smoke shop, according to the Daily News, but rejected the NYPD’s request to temporarily shut down the deli.
Officials served restraining orders on the businesses Wednesday, as reported by CBS New York.
READ MORE: What is K2? The Drug Behind The Mass Overdose in Bed-Stuy Explained
During a July 13 raid on the commercial corridor that followed last week’s mass overdose, New York City Sheriff officers went into Big Boy Deli and other nearby bodegas.
No K2 was found, but police said they found untaxed cigarettes at Big Boy Deli.
Undercover detectives purchased untaxed cigarettes at the bodega on six occasions between 2015 and 2016, according to court records, and a 2015 search netted 33 packs of untaxed cigarettes.
The case against Big Boy also cites a May 12, 2016, search in which officials found two packs of “alleged synthetic marijuana," filings show.
Mustafa Alsaidi, manager at Big Boy, said the smoke shop next door sells K2, not the deli, adding that the bodega is not affiliated with the business and does not have the same owner.
"It's really ridiculous the way [the police] spend their money, it's bulls--t," Alsaidi said.
Inspections as recent as June 30 at the smoke shop recovered K2, according to court records, and officials made undercover purchases of the drug at the location. Arrests were made at the shop in three instances since Feb. 29, 2016.
During the undercover buys, a detective left the shop with packages with brands including One Wish, Ice Dragon, Wet Lucy, Caution, Scooby Snax, and Kush Strawberry, records show.
In February, an inspection found 160 packages of synthetic drugs at the smoke shop, officials said, and another in June netted 21 packages.
Representatives for the stores are scheduled to appear in court on Friday, court records show.
