124 ARRESTED IN PARAPHERNALIA SELLING STING

A citywide undercover initiative that lasted several weeks and involved
hundreds of police officers netted 124 arrests, allegedly for peddling of
drug paraphernalia, and could result in the closing of 58 newspaper stands,
bodegas and other businesses snared in the sting, police said.

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly, surrounded Friday by dozens of bags of
seized drug paraphernalia at a news conference, said officers used 58
search warrants during a four-hour period Thursday morning as "part of our
renewed assault on quality-of-life crimes in all five boroughs."

The initiative was called "Operation CROP," which stands for Coordinated
Response to Outlaw Paraphernalia.

"Over the last few weeks, undercover officers bought drug paraphernalia
from dealers across the city," Kelly said. "They bought it from newspaper
stands, from cigarette shops, from Lotto vendors, every place that sells
illegal drug paraphernalia under the counter.

"Then, in a single day, the Narcotics Division swept in and executed search
warrants in all five boroughs," he said. "They seized crack pipes, crack
stems, bongs, scales, filters, Ziploc bags, heat sealers and rubber stamps
- - all items used in the narcotics trade."

Officers also seized $99,000 in cash, Kelly said.

In a borough-by-borough breakdown, Kelly said officers executed 22 search
warrants in Brooklyn, with 49 arrests; 19 search warrants in Manhattan,
with 38 arrests; nine search warrants in Queens, with 19 arrests; six
search warrants in the Bronx, with 13 arrests; and two search warrants in
Staten Island, with five arrests.

All of those arrested were charged with the misdemeanor crime of selling
drug paraphernalia. The next step of the initiative, Kelly said, would be
to begin civil proceedings in an attempt to close the newsstands, bodegas
and other places where the paraphernalia was sold.