NYPD Seizes Vehicles Over Illegal Cannabis Sales in Times Square

New York City Police Department Chief Jeffrey Maddrey on Tuesday shared a video on Twitter showing 19 vehicles the department had seized because the owners were selling cannabis without a permit. 

“Up in smoke. 19 illegal vehicles and cannibis (sic) seized off the streets of NYC. While others follow the rules, these trucks and their vendors don’t have permits so we took action!” — Maddrey via Twitter 

The video shows a line of brightly wrapped RVs, buses, and vans seized by the NYPD.  

Police also issued six criminal court summonses, CBS News reports. According to the Daily News, the vehicles were selling cannabis and cannabis products in Times Square.  

Police told the News that the vendors didn’t have Health Department vendor permits to sell food, which would include the gummies and other edibles infused with cannabis. An NYPD official told the News that the same treatment would be given to an ice cream truck if it didn’t have a food vendor license. Most of the vehicles had out-of-state plates and the drivers slept in them overnight.

In a separate video posted Tuesday to Maddrey’s Twitter, NYPD Deputy Chief John Chell said the crackdown came following complaints from Times Square’s Business Improvement District, which asked the department “to address quality of life as it relates to illegal food vending trucks.” 

“In this case, a cannabis truck which is selling illegal edibles,” he said. 

In June, the New York City Sheriff’s Office towed away 12 Weed World vehicles over $500,000 in unpaid parking fines, the News reports. On Monday, the company paid off $200,000 of those fines and agreed to an installment plan with city officials to pay the rest.