Three charged in West Chicago synthetic pot bust

An undercover crackdown on synthetic marijuana led to the arrest of three men at two West Chicago gas stations, police said Friday.

Officers made the arrests after executing search warrants Thursday at Shell gas stations on the 100 block of North Avenue and 1300 block of South Neltnor Boulevard, according to a news release.

Police said both businesses had synthetic cannabis, commonly sold under name brands such as K2, Wild Greens, Pink Panther and Kush. The searches capped a weeks-long undercover probe in which police said they bought the substances at both businesses.

Arrested at the North Avenue location was Jagidishkumar R. Patel, 53, of the 600 block of Forum Drive in Roselle, police said. At the Neltnor location, police arrested Joseph S. Nguyen, 33, of the 800 block of 15th Place in Chicago, and Sonni L. Nguyen, 38, of the 700 block of Hickory Lane in West Chicago, according to the news release.

All three were charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted.

The operation — carried out in conjunction with the DuPage County Sheriff’s Tactical Narcotics Team and the state’s attorney’s office — was the latest of ongoing efforts to crack down on synthetic marijuana products recently banned in Illinois.

In January, the sheriff’s office arrested the owner of a Lombard-area smoke shop accused of having $1 million worth of synthetic pot and “bath salts,” another synthetic drug. Officials in Aurora, Batavia, Campton Hills, Geneva, Lincolnshire, Mundelein, North Aurora, Sugar Grove and West Chicago also have taken local steps to bolster the state ban.

Lawmakers have found it challenging to keep with the shifting scope and makeup of synthetic drugs, but insist they are dangerous and must be taken off shelves.

Several suburban communities added to the state ban with their own restrictions after 19-year-old Max Dobner of Aurora died crashing his car into a house while having a severe reaction to synthetic pot in June, according to his mother. She has made it her mission to raise awareness and lobby for tougher enforcement.