Home News Large marijuana stash found in Frankford store

Large marijuana stash found in Frankford store

There’s less marijuana in Frankford. More than 38 pounds less.

Police put a value of $308,727 on the marijuana they found inside the Frankford Deli at 4745 Frankford Ave. on Oct. 29, Capt. John McCloskey told neighborhood residents the next night.

The owner of the store at Frankford and Foulkrod, Hassan Mustafa, 33, is facing 16 drug-related charges and two weapons charges, according to online court records. Police found other drugs, including 27 Percosets, and a 9 mm handgun in the store, the captain said.

Mustafa remains in custody with bail set at $200,000. According to court records, he has drug arrests and a couple of convictions. If he can post the bail, he will have what is known as a “Nebbia” hearing in which he will have to prove that his bail money does not come from illegal sources. Despite the owner’s arrest, the store was reopened about two hours later. McCloskey told residents that other addresses in Arrott, Penn and Griscom streets have been the subjects of narcotics investigations.

On Oct. 30, the captain was addressing residents who lived in the bottom third of the 15th. The area, known as the district’s Police Service Area 1, includes Frankford and Northwood. At PSA 1 meetings, neighbors meet informally with police to exchange information about area crime.

Along with discussions of drug sales at last week’s PSA 1 session, McCloskey and neighbors also discussed prostitution, fighting among Frankford High School students, a shooting and a fire.

• The victim of a recent shooting on Leiper Street, the captain said, is an alleged drug dealer. Because the man was wounded by a rifle bullet, McCloskey expects him to be hospitalized for a while. Officers now have his photo.

• There recently have been a lot of large fights involving students from Frankford High. Some of the fighting has occurred at McIlvain Playground on Penn Street, behind the Frankford Terminal. After one incident, the irate parents of some of the kids went to the playground and one brought a gun, the captain said. As a result, residents might see mounted police near the high school during dismissal hours.

• Prostitutes continue working Frankford Avenue, and officers continue to give them summary citations, usually for “obstructing the highway.” The captain said his officers have orders to keep the prostitutes in the police station at Levick and Harbison for a few hours so they can’t go right back to the Avenue.

• One resident told the captain that prostitutes and their customers are conducting their business in parked cars at Church and Orchard streets. Every day, she said, she sees a dozen or more used condoms on the streets and sidewalks.

• A few residents complained that “drugs are all over the place” on the 5000 block of Griscom. They asked Assistant District Attorney Jacqueline Coelho what constitutes a nuisance property, and went on to describe the conditions they’ve witnessed. They said there have been a number of fires in one property on the block and that a woman recently had a fatal overdose in the same building. They said they believed several people were squatting in the building and selling drugs there.

• There recently was a fire on the 1300 block of Foulkrod Street, one resident said, adding that she suspected the blaze was started by teens who hang out behind houses. She asked the captain to assign foot or mounted patrols in the area. The fire’s cause is under investigation, according to the Fire Department.

• Coelho and the captain discussed the city’s Safecam program in which the owners of security camera systems on their homes or businesses can register them with the Police Department. Police contact the owners to look at their surveillance footage when they are investigating nearby crimes. Anyone interested in learning about the program can visit safecam.phillypolice.com for more information.

PSA 1’s next session will held Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. in the second-floor conference room of Aria Health’s Frankford campus, 4900 Frankford Ave. ••

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