Smoke Shop Busted as Drug Den
SANTA PAULA – The Harvard Smoke Shop in the city of Santa Paula, for some time a favorite hangout of local cigar and cigarette connoisseurs, has apparently been augmenting its legitimate enterprise with a line of retail goods for which there is no available business licensing.
Duraid Durra, the smoke shop owner.
Owned and operated by Duraid Durra, 33, a resident of nearby Ventura, Harvard Smoke Shop is located in midtown Santa Paula on a busy thoroughfare with, according to Ventura Sheriff’s Department Public Information Officer Sgt. Jose Rivera, “good customer traffic.”
Apparently the amount of “customer traffic” was enough to attract the attention of law enforcement, as Durra’s shop had been under ongoing surveillance and detailed investigation pursuant to reports that he was “selling marijuana from his place of business,” as detailed in Rivera’s report to the media.
Durra was selling marijuana from this smoke shop
On December 10th, with search warrants in hand, Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputies brought their investigation to an end with the arrest of Durra as he was leaving his Ventura home on his way to work. With Durra taken into custody without incident, a search of his vehicle revealed marijuana “packaged for sale,” according to Rivera. Inside the home, detectives located and seized more than ten pounds of marijuana, several grams of methamphetamine, and “a significant amount” of currency, the total count of which was unspecified in Rivera’s report.
Taken into custody at the residence along with Durra were Cleland Weber, 45, Hugh Setterfield, 55, and David Reed, 41. Each was charged with multiple narcotics violations and were booked into Ventura County Jail.
Immediately thereafter, detectives served another search warrant at Durra’s Harvard Smoke Shop and seized “multiple packages of substances believed to be spice and bath salts which were displayed for sale.”
Read more:
The Fillmore Gazette: Narcotic Arrests
LA Times: Man Accused of Selling Drugs from Santa Paula Smoke Shop
Ventura County Sheriff’s Office: Press Release: Narcotic Arrests
