A Meridian man will spend eight years in prison after being found guilty on numerous charges related to the sale of counterfeit goods and possessing more than 30 grams of spice, Attorney General Jim Hood announced.
Abdulkhaliq Mohammed Murshid, 40, was sentenced Thursday by Lauderdale County Circuit Court Judge Charles Wright on one count of selling counterfeit goods, one count of possession of “spice” (synthetic cannabinoids) with the intent to sell, and three counts of selling an unauthorized recording device. A jury found him guilty on Wednesday. Murshid is the owner of Meridian Grocery and Tobacco and Grey Cloud Tobacco stores, which is where the illegal items were sold, including fake Michael Kors and Louis Vuitton purses, as well as CDs and DVDs.
A multiagency investigation in June 2015 into the sale of counterfeit goods and the scheduled narcotic drug spice included multiple search warrants at numerous locations. During the search warrants, investigators retrieved large amounts of spice, counterfeit goods, guns, and more than $200,000 in U.S. currency.
Murshid was sentenced to serve three years in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections for count one. He was sentenced to five years on count two, which runs concurrent to count one, as well as a $20,000 fine. On counts three, four and five, Murshid was fined $5,000 for each count.
“Anytime a drug dealer is put behind bars, lives are saved,” General Hood said. “I appreciate the work of the many dedicated agencies and the decisions made by Judge Wright and the jury to get this dangerous man out of our communities and cut off his means of selling counterfeit goods and drugs in our state.”
This case was investigated by Lee McDivitt of the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Division, with assistance from the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics and the Lauderdale County Narcotics Division. Special Assistant Attorney General Patrick Beasley handled the prosecution.
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