Officers from the West Virginia State Police and the Morgan County Sheriff’s Department served a search warrant at the Exotic Smoke House on Valley Road on Wednesday, April 2 on suspicion that the store was harboring the illegal sale of Schedule I narcotics and have charged a man in the case.
The search was part of a sweep of 13 vape stores in the Eastern Panhandle.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Morgan County Magistrate Court by Sgt. S.R. Smith of the West Virginia State Police Berkeley Springs detachment, Senior Trooper B.F. Gorondy secured the search warrant from the courts.
Upon execution of the search warrant, officers found “several items indicative of drug sales”, including suspected raw marijuana, located in plastic containers that were labeled. Police also found several containers of suspected marijuana/cannabis with THC over 30%, which is illegal under West Virginia law. They also found three large plastic bags containing KHAT, a plant with a stimulant quality that is illegal in the United States.
Officers also located and seized handwritten ledger books, two loaded handguns and two loaded rifles, according to the criminal complaint. Police also seized $27,729 in U.S. currency, mostly wrapped in rubber bands located in a satchel.
Police charged Adel Salim Hussain Obad, 29, of Berkeley Springs with possession with the intent to distribute marijuana and possession with the intent to distribute KHAT. Obad was released on a $20,000 cash bond while he awaits a hearing in the case.
According to the West Virginia State Police, their troopers worked alongside the Martinsburg City Police Department, Charles Town Police Department, Morgan County Sheriff’s Department, Eastern Panhandle Drug & Violent Crimes Task Force and Potomac Highlands Task Force to execute 13 search warrants on tobacco and vape stores in Jefferson, Berkeley and Morgan counties on April 2.
According to a release about the actions, an investigation began in December 2024 under Senior Trooper B.F. Gorondy after traffic stops ended in the seizure of raw marijuana and illegal THC vape from local stores. The Department of Agriculture assisted police. As a result of the searches, police found $96,000 in U.S. currency, around $700,000 in illegal products, four firearms and two vehicles.
Police served warrants at the Berkeley Smoke Shop in Falling Waters, Martinsburg Tobacco & Vape, Inwood Tobacco, Smoking Monkey in Martinsburg, Inwood Smoke Shop, Tobacco Hut Martinsburg, RedEye Tobacco/Vape in Martinsburg, Tobacco & Vape Shop in Martinsburg, Exotic SmokeShop in Berkeley Springs, M&S Tobacco/Vape in Berkeley Springs, University Vape in Shepherdstown, Ranson Tobacco/Vape and Tobacco Hut Charles Town.
Their investigation is ongoing.
