Local Businesses Slashed

Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced that eight people, including owners and employees of variety stores, have been charged with Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree and Manufacture, Transportation, Disposition and Defacement of Weapons and Dangerous Instruments and Appliances after a two-week long sting that uncovered stores in four Queens neighborhoods illegally selling knives and other weapons.
Officers and detectives assigned to the NYPDs Burglary, Larceny, Apprehension and Suppression Team (BLAST) in conjunction with the 111th Precinct in Bayside searched five retail stores in Astoria, Bayside, Flushing and Woodside.
China Grove, located on Bell Boulevard, was one of the stores targeted. The raids were conducted by a new Queens North unit, "The Cutting Edge," whose mission is to uncover illegal knife and switchblade sales.
Defendants have been identified as Jose Negron, Jian Hua Zhu, Dong Chen, Elsayed Elmarakbi, De Chen, Xiao Hong Zhao and Peter Zhu. Each faces up to one year in jail if convicted. Negron, because of a prior felony conviction, faces up to seven years, and Chen, Hong and Zhu might serve a four year sentence due to additional charges of Trademark Counterfeiting. Currently, they are being held pending arraignment in Queens Criminal Court.