A gunman looted a smoke shop at Prospect Heights last month, getting away with over $1,500 worth of goods.
According to police, the gun-toting crook ran into Fulton Exotic World smoke shop at 1002 Fulton St. near Grand Avenue on April 28 and flashed a black and silver firearm at the store clerk at around 6:30 p.m.
The looter lifted $800 in cash from the register before grabbing around $700 worth of smoke products from the store’s shelves and running out while the frightened staff looked on, according to police.
The pirate then hopped into a four-door sedan with an out-of-state temporary license plate and took off northbound on Irving Place out of Prospect Heights and towards Clinton Hill.
No injuries were reported in the incident.
The NYPD described the suspect as a man between 30 and 40 years old, with a medium build. He was last spotted wearing a black hoodie sweater, dark jeans, black stocking cap with white wording, white sneakers, sunglasses, a black face mask.
The incident marks yet another robbery of a Big Apple smoke shop, which have spread throughout the city in recent years. Many smoke shops operate legally in selling tobacco products and smoking paraphernalia, but illegally sling marijuana without a license.
As a result, some of those businesses deal in large amounts of cash, making them an prime target for robbers.
Some businesses have resorted to employing a significant security presence — such as Plantia, at 265 Bedford Ave. in Williamsburg, which has a full-time security guard, and signage in the door claiming that the patrolman is armed.
Currently, though consumption of weed is legal in the Empire State, the process to obtain a license to sell the green stuff is arduous — with the state looking to promote “social and economic equity” by doling out licenses to persons and communities that have been impacted by the war on drugs, and marijuana’s previous status as an illicit substance.
There are no licensed marijuana retailers currently operating in Brooklyn.
