A Bayonne man was caught with a bag of Xanax while being arrested on prior weapon and drug charges, police said.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Hakeem D. Lester, 34, of Bayonne, was charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance (Xanax), possession of CDS with the intent to distribute, and possession of CDS with the intent to distribute within 500 feet of public housing on Wednesday, according to Police Capt. Eric Amato.
Lester was taken into custody at about 10:42 p.m. on June 15th from the area of 19th Street and John F. Kennedy Boulevard.
Narcotics detectives observed Lester standing on the sidewalk in the area and had knowledge that a warrant for his arrest was in effect from a prior investigation.
The detectives then approached Lester and placed him under arrest under the authority of the warrant.
As they were placing him under arrest, Lester threw a small plastic bag containing numerous pills of Xanax and began to step on it in an attempt to destroy the narcotic evidence.
During this arrest, Lester was also charged with numerous narcotic and firearm offenses resulting from a prior investigation of narcotic distribution.
On June 3rd, two people were arrested and charged with narcotic offenses. During that investigation, a third man was identified as being involved in the distribution scheme.
At the time of the arrest of the other two men, Lester did not possess any narcotics. but the vehicle he was observed entering to retrieve narcotics, thus being used to stash narcotics, was impounded pending further investigation.
The investigation of the vehicle led to the recovery of cocaine and heroin packaged for distribution, narcotic paraphernalia, a 9mm semi-automatic handgun loaded with an 8-round magazine confirmed to be stolen out of Florida, and a defaced 9mm semi-automatic handgun loaded with a partially loaded 30-round magazine, authorities said.
As a result, he faces the following charges as well: receiving stolen property, possession of a firearm during the commission of a narcotic offense, possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a handgun, possession of a defaced firearm,
possession of a large capacity magazine, certain persons not to possess a firearm, and a handful of charges related to possession and distribution of heroin and cocaine.
