Nassau overdose leads to drug bust in Queens; 3 arrested

<p>An opioid overdose in Nassau County seven months ago led to a drug bust in Queens Wednesday morning, authorities say.</p>

News 12 Staff

May 17, 2017, 9:59 PM

Updated 2,756 days ago

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An opioid overdose in Nassau County seven months ago led to a drug bust in Queens Wednesday morning, authorities say.
The defendants were named by police as Hussein Kaafarani, 50; Ali Kaafarani, 28; and Mohamad Nehme, 33. The Kaafaranis are father and son. 
Investigators say the trio was selling fentanyl, ketamine and drug paraphernalia. 
"We took a stamp from that  [Nassau]  overdose and we ran it through our criminal database. The stamp was called diesel," says Nassau's Deputy Commissioner Patrick Ryder. "We found that this stamp could be bought online."
Ryder says tiny plastic baggies, bottles and envelopes were also for sale on that website.
"They were advertised to hold coins in them. Obviously, you can see from the size of this envelope, you're not storing any coins in there," says the deputy commissioner. 
During the investigation, Ryder says they made several purchases from the website. After the third buy, he says the father-and-son team offered to sell more than just packaging.
"He offered us ketamine. Then our last several buys, we purchased five bottles of pure liquid fentanyl," says Ryder. 
Ryder says the purchases cost more than $20,000. He says authorities seized $25,000 at a residence in College Point. They are hoping to also seize $600,000 currently in bank accounts. 
The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned on Thursday.