LINDEN — On Friday, Sept. 20, at 8:53 p.m., members of the Linden police department’s Narcotics Squad were conducting a surveillance in the parking lot of Aviation Plaza on Routes 1 & 9 when they observed what appeared to be a drug transaction between the occupants of two vehicles near the Marshalls store.
The detectives then followed a Chevy Trailblazer out of the lot and heading northbound on Routes 1 & 9 when the vehicle allegedly began to travel erratically and weave in and out of traffic. With the assistance of patrol officers, the Trailblazer was eventually stopped at Franklin St. and Fifth Avenue in Elizabeth.
Upon approaching the vehicle and speaking to the driver, Jared Deshawn Daniels, 25, of Rahway, detectives observed a handgun laying on the floor of the vehicle and removed Daniels and the passenger, Alkabir Ishmel Boone, 25, also of Rahway.
The handgun was a Charter Arms .38 caliber special loaded with two rounds. Officers smelled the odor of marijuana and recovered a sandwich bag allegedly containing 10 smaller baggies of suspected marijuana.
Both suspects were arrested and transported to headquarters where they were charged with possession and distribution of marijuana, possession of a firearm while committing a CDS offense, and certain persons not to possess weapons.
The driver, Daniels, was also charged with possession of CDS in a motor vehicle and having an open container of alcohol. Daniels was held on $150,000 bail and Boone held on $100,000 bail, respectively. Both were transported to the Union County Jail with a court date set for Sept. 27.