Police seized large amounts of cannabis from alleged organizer of pot ‘farmers markets’

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) – A series of marijuana “farmers markets” that have cropped up lately in various San Diego neighborhoods led this week to a police raid that left the alleged organizer of the events under arrest and large amounts of cannabis seized.

Narcotics officers investigating the “Ganja Galaxy” marijuana fairs served a search warrant late Thursday afternoon at Queen Bee’s Art and Cultural Center, a rental hall in the 3900 block of Ohio Street in North Park, according to San Diego police.

Inside the venue were about 30 vendor tables, each displaying “large amounts” of marijuana and edible products containing the drug, Lt. Matt Novak said.

As the event had yet to open to the public, no customers were present at the time, Novak said.

The man who allegedly arranged the illicit sale along with the others of its kind that have taken place in the city in recent months, 24-year-old Ramin Moghadam of Carlsbad, was arrested along with a second suspect, Anthony Shaba, 25.

A total of 45 people who had been staffing the vendor booths were cited for possession of marijuana for sale, operating a business without a permit and other violations, Novak said. Officers found and impounded three guns stashed in the hall and two others in vehicles parked at the venue.

A simultaneous search of Moghadam’s North County home turned up four firearms along with a “substantial amount” of cash, the lieutenant said.

In all, about 90 pounds of high-grade marijuana, 6,000 cannabis edibles and concentrates, nine guns, roughly $100,000 in cash and business records were seized from the two locations.

The so-called cannabis “farmers markets” have attracted customers by the hundreds and have been marked by illegal drug sales and use, “negatively impacting the surrounding businesses and neighborhoods,” Novak said.