A Lauderhill convenience store was shuttered Thursday in the wake of a recent crackdown on the sale and distribution of illegal narcotics that centered around the store.
Lauderhill Police announced earlier this month that a total of 14 people are facing charges after a seven-week investigation, dubbed “Operation Neighborhood Shield,” that focused on drug activity in the Lauderhill Gardens Townhouses community in the 4000 block of Northwest 19th Street and Jimmy’s Supermarket in the 90 block of Northwest 34th Avenue.
The convenience store became an epicenter of the investigation, where controlled purchases of illegal narcotics were made with confidential informants and where a search warrant was carried out, according to court records. While searching the convenience store, investigators allegedly found 32 individually packaged baggies of flakka, weighing just over 7 grams, “hidden among merchandise,” the police department previously said in a news release.
The city suspended the store’s certificate of use on Thursday, the police department announced. It will remain suspended until at least Nov. 18, when another magistrate hearing is scheduled and final action will be determined.
“The Lauderhill Police Department will coordinate with City Code Enforcement to monitor compliance with the closure order,” the police department said Thursday. “Officers will conduct periodic area checks as part of that effort.”
The business could not be reached by phone Thursday.
14 arrested in crackdown of illegal narcotic sales at Lauderhill store, apartments