Cops Dismantle ‘Local Criminal Enterprise’ at Hudson Valley Deli

Six were arrested for allegedly selling drugs and more at a Hudson Valley deli.

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The Dutchess County Drug Task Force and the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office Detective Bureau reported the "dismantling of a local criminal enterprise" allegedly operating out of the Zaid Market and Deli located at 541 Main Street in Poughkeepsie.

The store owner, Rami Nshaiwat, and his employees distributed quantities of illegal opioid narcotics, police say. A large portion of the drugs that were being sold were identified as “counterfeit” Oxy 30 mg pills, officials say.

"The tablets are so well-made that even experienced users say they can’t tell the difference between a counterfeit pill and a pill manufactured by a pharmaceutical company. They are often meant to appear like the common pharmaceutical-grade painkiller oxycodone. However these pills are laced with fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, similar to morphine but known to be up to 100 times more potent," the Dutchess County Drug Task Force said in a press release.

According to police, the investigation reveals these counterfeit pills were being obtained through internet orders on the dark web, by Poughkeepsie resident, Elyse DeGeorge, who sold them in large quantities to Rami Nshaiwat and or his employee’s for distribution at his del and other locations across the country.

There was also a large scale of money laundering and bulk cash smuggling occurring state to state, officials allege.

Nshaiwat and his employees were also allegedly running a fraudulent SNAP trafficking operation by allowing over 150 local benefit recipients to traffic their Electronic Benefits Transfer cards, allowing the theft of thousands and thousands of dollars in state food benefit funds from NYS.

The investigation revealed local benefit recipients would sell the cash value of their benefit amount to the store in exchange for half its value, officials say

The six subjects were taken into custody and charged as follows:

Rami Nshaiwat, 50, of Poughkeepsie

• Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance 3rd degree – class B felony
• Criminal Possession of Benefit Card 1st degree – class C felony
• Grand Larceny 3rd degree – class D felony

Monir Masarweh, 57, of Poughkeepsie

• Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance 3rd degree – class B felony
• Criminal Possession of Benefit Card 1st degree – class C felony
• Grand Larceny 3rd degree – class D felony

Majdi Masarweh, 59, of Poughkeepsie

• Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance 3rd degree – class B felony
• Grand Larceny 3rd degree – class D felony

Nandis Spearman, 32, of Poughkeepsie

• Grand Larceny 3rd degree – class D felony

Syed Rahman, 58, of Wappingers Falls

• Grand Larceny 3rd degree – class D felony

Elyse DeGeorge, 26, of Poughkeepsie

• Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance 3rd degree – class B felony

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