Crime & Safety

Police: Driver had $50,000 Worth of Heroin in Fast Food Bag

Alleged drug runner stopped for unsafe lane change.

Police say Zakiyyah Shakoor started crying after she was pulled over.

The 37-year-old Wilboro resident is reported to have appeared nervous from the start of the late morning May 15 traffic stop. She reportedly broke into tears after officers was asked for her license and other motor vehicle papers. Reportedly, she told Officer Luis Brito that she was fresh from a fight with her boyfriend but then changed her story.

Soon it became evident that this was a case of cracking under pressure.

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The officers reportedly found a pound and a half of heroin crammed inside a fast food restaurant paper bag in the car. The Union County Prosecutor's Office narcotics laboratory later determined the package had a street value of over $50,000.

Shakoor had been stopped for an illegal lane on Route 22 in Springfield. Springfield Police Chief John Cook said that the commercial strip can act as a transportation route for drug distribution.

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"Many major highways are common arteries for drug traffickers in transporting illegal narcotics to urban markets,” Cook said in an email. “As in this case, something as routine as the stop of a vehicle for a moving violation along with an observant officer can lead to an arrest and a substantial seizure of drugs."

Earlier this year, a Police said the industrial space was used as a distribution point from drugs transported from Mexico to Manhattan.  

Shakoor was charged with possession with the intent to distribute over 5 ounces of heroin, a first-degree felony, and the possession of a controlled dangerous substance-heroin. She was remanded to the Union County Jail in Elizabeth in lieu of $200,000 bail. Her initial court appearance in Union County Superior Court has been set for May 18.


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