Synthetic Pot Raids: New Port Richey Man Arrested, 18,000 Packages Seized

Written and reported by Sunde Farquhar

A New Port Richey man was one of four people arrested by Clearwater Police last week during a series of convenience store raids that netted $300,000 worth of synthetic pot.

Jean Hanna Bitar, 57, of Palm Harbor is charged with four felony drug counts.

Authorities say it's the largest amount of synthetic marijuana ever seized by Clearwater Police. 

A total of 18,000 packages of synthetic marijuana and $15,000 in cash was seized during Thursday's raids at the following Clearwater convenience stores-

• Wanna Save at 1362 Cleveland St.

• Hillcrest Store at 1391 Gulf to Bay Blvd.

• Super Sonic at 724 S. Missourri Ave.

• Danny's Tobacco Shop at 1621 Gulf to Bay Blvd. 

The synthetic drugs removed from the Hillcrest Store filled 49 large trash bags and were more than could fit in one police van, according to Clearwater Police.

• Tarek Ghazwan Allababidi, 19, of New Port Richey, was arrested at Super Sonic. He is charged with two felony counts of sale/delivery of a controlled substance and two felony counts of possession of a controlled substance. Allababidi was booked in the Pinellas County Jail where he remained as of Thursday evening. Bond was set at $24,000.
• Jean Hanna Bitar, 57, of Palm Harbor was arrested at Danny's Smoke Shop. He is charged with two felony counts of sale/delivery of a controlled substance (synthetic cannabis) and two felony counts of possession of a controlled substance (synthetic cannabis). Bitar was booked in the Pinellas County Jail where he remained as of Thursday evening. Bond was set at $30,000.

• Remon Aziz Farg, 33, of Clearwater, was arrested at the Wanna Save. He was charged with one count of felony sale of synthetic cannabis. Farg was booked into the Pinellas County Jail where he remained as of Thursday evening. Bond was set at $5,000.

• Christopher Dolu, 30, of Clearwater was arrested at the Wanna Save. He was charged with one felony count of possession of synthetic cannabis, one felony count of distribution of synthetic cannabis, and one felony count of sale of synthetic cannabis.  Dolu was booked into the Pinellas County Jail where he remained as of Thursday evening. Bond was set at $30,000.

It is illegal to sell synthetic marijuana in Florida. The fake drugs are sold in brightly colored packages that are designed to appeal to younger people and have names like "Scooby Snax" and "K2."

Palm Harbor University High grad Logan Kushner, 19, drowned in January of 2012 after smoking "Jazz" at a Clearwater park. An autopsy report released by the Pinellas County Medical Examiner found that synthetic pot intoxication was a contributing factor in Kushner's death.