COUNTY MAN ARRESTED IN FEDERAL DRUG PARAPHERNALIA RAID

Six Arrests Made In Northern California As Authorities Serve Nine Search
Warrants

BELMONT -- Federal drug agents raided three locations and made one arrest
in the County Monday as part of a nationwide sweep targeting companies
selling illegal drug paraphernalia.

The culmination of two investigations headed by the Drug Enforcement
Administration called Operation Pipe Dreams and Headhunter netted 55
arrests across the country.

Under federal law, it is illegal to sell certain drug paraphernalia,
including miniature scales, bongs, roach clips and substances to dilute raw
narcotics.

"These are the largest manufacturers and distributors in the country," said
Will Glaspy, spokesman for the DEA's Washington, D.C., office.

Glaspy said the targeted businesses have combined annual sales of a quarter
of a billion dollars. Many market to kids, he said, and do business through
Internet sales.

"The majority of these (items) are, in fact, drug paraphernalia," Glaspy
added. "There's no mistaking these pipes for tobacco pipes."

Six arrests were made in Northern California, and nine search warrants were
served, according to Rich Meyer, spokesman for the DEA's San Francisco office.

Agents raided two businesses and a house in San Mateo County, which led to
the local arrest, Meyer said.

San Mateo resident Nassar David Zahriya, 39, was indicted as a result of
the investigation, but Meyer would not say whether he was the person
arrested in the County Monday.

Zahriya, along with Waleed A. Zahrieh, 37, of Los Gatos, are accused of
trafficking in illegal drug paraphernalia. Authorities say both were
involved in Sands of Time and its successor business, Wicked Corp, both
national distributors of illegal drug items.

DEA agents were still searching Wicked Corp. at 530 Marine View Ave. in
Belmont on Monday evening.

Early Monday morning, agents began swarming around a different site in
Belmont, a business at 1290 Old County Road that shared a squat beige
building with an automotive shop.

The raided business had no obvious signs, save for fliers to ward off
solicitors and a red and white placard on the front door announcing
"Patricia's Parking Only."

According to the city's business license records, the business at 1290 Old
County is called United Supply Company. The owner is listed as Ali Zahaiya.

The company did not return calls for comment Monday. A phone message for
United Supply, however, referred to the company as "the premier supplier of
quality gourmet products."

It was unclear Monday whether United Supply has any connection to Wicked or
the two men.

A man who worked at a business adjacent to United Supply didn't want to
give his name, but said agents had been there since 4 a.m. Some 20 officers
showed up and busted the business' door open, he said, using a sledge hammer.

He and other neighbors of the business said United Supply kept relatively
quiet and had been there for about three or four years.

A U-Haul towed items away from the site, he said. At the height of the
search, the agents' new-looking, nondescript cars blanketed the area,
taking up most of the parking on both sides of the two-lane, industrial street.

"It looked like Hertz was having a convention," he said.