40 Pounds Of Marijuana Found In Niles Garage During Cannabis Crackdown

NILES, IL — Detectives discovered dozens of illegal marijuana plants inside a garage across the street from a school in Niles, leading to the arrest of the homeowner.

Rakan Kunda, 33, of the 8600 block of North Ozark Avenue, was arrested Tuesday and charged with several cannabis-related felonies, the most serious of which — manufacture or delivery of more than 5 kilograms of cannabis — is a class X offense carrying a minimum prison sentence of six years.

Illinois law allows people to possess limited quantities of cannabis for personal use and permits registered medical cannabis patients to grow up to five plants. However, Kunda's grow operation included about 48 plants, according to police.

Niles police began investigating Kunda's house in November after getting complaints about "possible drug activity" there, eventually gathering enough evidence to convince a judge to sign a warrant authorizing them to search it.

Kunda, who lives next to Niles Notre Dame High School, is also charged with manufacture and delivery of cannabis within 1,000 feet of a school and possession of more than 5,000 grams of cannabis, both of which are class 1 felonies. He was also charged with the class 3 felony of production of 20-50 cannabis plants.

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According to police, investigators found about 40 pounds — more than 18 kilograms — of "raw cannabis" in the garage.

Police said they also seized equipment used for cultivating cannabis during the search of the North Ozark Avenue home.

Investigators took a woman at the house into custody but later released her without charges.

Kunda had his first appearance in court on Tuesday, where he was granted pretrial release to await trial.