An Allen business owner is fighting back after being arrested during a raid at his vape shop. In a lawsuit, the legal team for the Allen vape and smoke shop owner said their client’s constitutional rights were violated.
It’s the latest in a story NBC 5 has been following since August when Allen police raided nine smoke and vape shops in the area. Sabhie Khan, 70, was one of six people arrested, and he's now facing a charge of manufacturing and distribution of a controlled substance.
This week, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of Khan and Hemp Industry leaders of Texas, alleging warrants for the raids that led to six arrests were obtained using unreliable hemp testing methods.
Attorney David Sergi spoke to NBC 5 after filing the suit.
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“The long and short of it is the testing that the Allen Police Department used is not the correct testing method, so all of their information is simply dead wrong,” Sergi said.
The Allen Police Department, in partnership with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the Collin County Sheriff’s Office, said products sold at the locations contained between 7% and 80% THC. The limit is 0.3% or less to be compliant. The DEA said the products were tested in a certified lab.
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The lawsuit, however, asks that all additional testing on products be conducted using methods that do not alter the original THC levels in the products.
Sergi told NBC 5 that his clients rely on manufacturer proof concerning what’s sold in their stores.
“You’re supposed to be able to rely on a certificate of analysis from your vendors,” he said. “They relied on the manufacturer certificate for what they were buying and then they used that to sell it to the public. The manufacturers actually rely on what the laboratories tell them. And so, everything goes back to the labs.”
NBC contacted the City of Allen and the Collin County Sheriff’s office on Friday for a response following the lawsuit. City officials declined to comment because of the ongoing litigation. As of 6 p.m. Friday, we had not heard back from the sheriff’s office.
However, in August, following the search and seizure warrants, the Allen Police Department said the operation was part of an effort to “eliminate the distribution of illegal vaping products that contain THC above the legal threshold.”
Sergi said the raids, arrests and attention that followed eroded what he said were legitimate businesses and that “multiple members [of HILT] have reported a decrease in sales because of the increased scrutiny and fear of similar police actions.”
In 2018, the Farm Bill legalized the commercial production of hemp. In 2019, Texas signed into law House Bill 1325, authorizing the production, manufacturing, retail sale, and inspection of industrial hemp crops and products.
