

Texas vape shop owner files lawsuit against city and county officials after raid – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth
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An Allen entrepreneur is fighting back after being arrested during a raid on his vape shop. In a lawsuit, the legal team for the owner of an Allen vape and smoke shop said their client's constitutional rights had been 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 now faces charges of manufacturing and distributing a controlled substance.
This week, a lawsuit was filed on behalf of Texas leaders Khan and the Hemp Industry, claiming arrest warrants were obtained for the raids that led to six arrests using unreliable hemp testing methods.
Attorney David Sergi spoke to NBC 5 after filing the charges.
“The bottom line is that the tests that the Allen Police Department used are not the correct testing method, so all of their information is just completely wrong,” Sergi said.
NBC 5 News
Allen police, working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the Collin County Sheriff's Office, said the products sold at the locations contain between 7% and 80% THC. The limit is 0.3% or less to comply with regulations. The DEA said the products were tested in a certified laboratory.
However, the lawsuit asks that any 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 customers rely on manufacturer evidence about what is sold in their stores.
“You're supposed to be able to rely on a certificate of analysis from your suppliers,” he said. “They relied on the manufacturer's certificate for what they bought and used that to sell it to the public. The manufacturers actually trust what the labs tell them. And so everything goes back to the laboratories.”

NBC 5 News
NBC contacted the city of Allen and the Collin County Sheriff's Office on Friday for comment regarding the lawsuit. City officials declined to comment because of the ongoing litigation. As of 6:00 PM on Friday, we had not heard from the sheriff's office.
However, in August, following the search and seizure warrants, Allen police said the operation was part of an effort to “eliminate the distribution of illegal vaping products containing THC above the legal threshold.”
Sergi said the raids, arrests and attention that followed eroded what he said were legitimate businesses and that “several members (of HILT) have reported a decline in sales due to increased surveillance 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, which authorized the production, production, retail and inspection of industrial hemp crops and products.
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