A man caught with tens of thousands of packets of synthetic marijuana known as spice, worth well over a million dollars combined, is facing up to 20 years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a drug conspiracy charge.
Tamer Sharer Foqahaa, 33, was arrested in the spring following a series of large-scale busts that together turned up close to 500 pounds of the drug, which authorities say has been tied to a wave of serious health emergencies in the region. The investigation was carried out by the Mobile County Street Enforcement Narcotics Team, a joint unit that targets drug trafficking across the county.
According to Foqahaa’s plea agreement, the case broke open after a confidential informant tipped off investigators that he was distributing spice throughout the Mobile area. That informant then arranged to buy the drug directly from Foqahaa at a storage unit in west Mobile. Narcotics officers monitored the transaction as it happened, then moved in and seized more than 20,000 individually wrapped packets of spice from the unit — a haul authorities valued at upwards of $600,000. The packets had been disguised as ordinary potpourri, sold under names such as “Purple Diesel,” “Angry Birds,” “Bomb Marley,” and “Scooby Snax,” a common tactic used by spice dealers to skirt drug laws that target the substance by name.
Investigators didn’t stop there. A follow-up search of a second storage unit also leased to Foqahaa turned up an additional 235 pounds of the drug, pushing the total seizure toward the 500-pound mark cited in his plea deal.
Spice has drawn increasing concern from both law enforcement and medical professionals in recent years. Marketed as a legal alternative to marijuana, the drug is typically smoked and has been linked to a range of severe health effects, including seizures, psychotic episodes and, in some cases, death. Authorities say two deaths earlier in the year in the Mobile area are believed to be connected to spice use, underscoring why local and federal agencies made the case a priority.
Foqahaa, a Palestinian national who had previously owned a gas station and convenience store in Magnolia Springs, was initially charged in state court following his arrest before federal prosecutors stepped in and took over the prosecution, reflecting the scale of the operation investigators say he was running.
Chief U.S. District Judge William Steele is expected to sentence Foqahaa, who now faces a maximum of 20 years behind bars along with a fine of up to $1 million under federal sentencing guidelines for the conspiracy charge.
Officials with the narcotics task force say the case illustrates how synthetic drug distribution networks often rely on storage units and disguised packaging to move large quantities of product through residential and commercial areas without drawing attention, and that community tips and informants remain one of the most effective tools for identifying and dismantling those operations.