By Chris Fuchs
A Flushing man and an Astoria man were convicted Friday of selling $7,000 heroin to an undercover police officer and conspiring to buy 1,000 additional grams of the drug in Pakistan after a four-week jury trial, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
The pair could face life in prison, his office said.
The district attorney said Rashid Khan, 38, of Flushing, and Mian Haji, 46, of Astoria, were found guilty of first-degree possession of a controlled substance and conspiracy. The men were scheduled to be sentenced in November by State Supreme Court Judge Randall Eng, who presided at the trial.
In January 1997 Khan and Haji met an undercover police officer in a parking lot of a Pathmark supermarket in Ozone Park and sold him a two-gram package of heroin, the DA said. The heroin was 90 percent pure, Brown said, and had a street value of $7,000.
In March 1997, Khan decided to travel to Pakistan to buy a kilogram of what the district attorney called “high-grade Pakistani” heroin for resale on the streets of New York. Khan took a flight to Lahore, Pakistan and after arriving, set out for the northwest region of the country, Brown said.
Khan was arrested in Pakistan on April 29, 1997 with the drugs in his possession, “but a sum of money was paid to authorities and he was released,” Brown said.
Assistant District Attorneys Mark Katz and Philip Anderson of the DA's Narcotics Investigation Bureau prosecuted the case.
Reach reporter Chris Fuchs by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 156.