![\"Neighbors](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/gbe5dwq2gywbnx9a.jpg\")
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Oakland – A 24-hour smoke shop that opened a month ago in the heart of Oakland’s Dimond District is unlicensed – and still operational despite a recent police raid.<\/p>\n
On Jan. 10, just days after the store at MacArthur Boulevard and Maple Avenue opened, Oakland police converged on the business, arrested a suspect and seized an illegal AR-15 pistol as well as marijuana, mushrooms, ecstasy and flavored tobacco products.<\/p>\n
\u2018High-fiving\u2019 after Oakland police raid <\/p>\n
What they’re saying:<\/p>\n
But that didn’t seem to faze store officials, because just hours after the police raid, “there were guys out front high-fiving and reopening and walking back in, and it’s been open ever since,” a woman who lives in the neighborhood told KTVU. She did not want to identified.<\/p>\n
She said the shop has no business being in the neighborhood. Bret Harte Middle School is around the corner.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“It’s just a lack of understanding as how this could be open,” she said. “Illegal activity should not be allowed to continue seemingly unabated.”<\/p>\n
A store clerk did not want to be interviewed and professed no knowledge of the police raid.<\/p>\n
The smoke shop, with its giant sign and arrow, was once home to Hi Hat Cleaners until it closed during the coronavirus outbreak.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A man who answered the phone on a “For Lease” sign that once hung on the building told KTVU the suspect arrested was a handyman who had the rifle for protection. Police declined to release more details.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“There’s also been connections between this shop and sideshows that have been going on,” said Councilmember Janani Ramachandra, who represents the area.<\/p>\n
“When you’re selling things illegally under the guise of whatever you’re trying to be, you are impacting our most vulnerable community members, which are Oakland’s youth,” Ramachandran said.<\/p>\n
City weighing legal action\u00a0 <\/p>\n
What they’re saying:<\/p>\n
The Oakland city attorney’s office is considering legal action in the form of a civil complaint and potential eviction.<\/p>\n
Rina Moyal, who pushed a child down the sidewalk while working as a nanny said, “I was really surprised to hear that they opened over there. Now I’m kind of really worried, that you stated what they found, very concerned.”<\/p>\n
But Darren Sasser says the store is needed in the area for regular customers like himself.<\/p>\n
“Me as a cannabis user, you know, just like to respect what the spirit of herbal therapy is,” Sasser said.<\/p>\n
Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on X @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com\/henrykleefan<\/p>\n
The Source: KTVU reporting, Oakland police<\/p>\n
Crime and Public Safety<\/a>News<\/a>Oakland<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oakland – A 24-hour smoke shop that opened a month ago in the heart of Oakland’s Dimond District…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":157427,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[389,1184,2042,100,143,145,144,1181],"class_list":{"0":"post-157426","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-alameda-county","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-crime-publicsafety","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-oakland","13":"tag-oakland-headlines","14":"tag-oakland-news","15":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157426","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=157426"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/157426\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/157427"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=157426"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=157426"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=157426"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}