Belleville Cousins Arrested After Newark Drug Bust

Two Belleville cousins were charged with several drug offenses after Newark police confiscated a cache of containers filled with banned synthetic marijuana and roughly $2,700 in cash from a Bloomfield Avenue gas station in the city's North Ward, police said Monday.

Barshedah Singh, 44, and his cousin, Harmanpreet Singh, 20, both of Belleville, were arrested May 26 at Millennium Gas Station after police operated on a citizen's tip that drugs were sold at that location. Both were charged with "multiple" drug violations, according to Newark Police Department Det. Hubert Henderson.

"As a police department, we want the public to get involved," said Acting Newark Police Director Samuel DeMaio. "We want the citizens to come forward whenever they have concerns or issues that may intrude upon the quality of life that every citizen in our great city demands and deserves. We continue to encourage such interactions. As a team, the public and the police department, we can work toward abating such issues together."

Henderson said after police received the tip, they immediately began surveillance. It's then when officers observed "a Spanish male enter the location and purchase a bottle containing a green leafy substance from the store attendant. The male left the store and began to 'roll' the substance into a white waxy paper, commonly the way marijuana is smoked." As police approached that man, he fled and eluded capture.

When officers entered the gas station, they found bottles of synthetic pot behind the counter and several colored plastic bags with the logo "K2 Standard Limited Edition and K3 Summit" stamped on them. Both of those artificial brands, which function similar to THC  — the active ingredient in marijuana — temporarily were banned by the federal Drug Enforcement Administration in March.

— Joshua Wilwohl