An Atlantic City store owner who was previously convicted of illegal sales is in trouble again.

The 24 Seven Food Market at 1406 Atlantic Avenue was closed after police discovered an illegal cigarette trade due to a vendor’s suspected side business of drug trafficking, the indictment states.

On August 16, detectives were conducting a surveillance in the area when they observed Cecil Morgan selling narcotics, Captain Kevin Fair said.

Morgan, 35, of Atlantic City, came out from behind the counter several times to talk to customers and was observed using a digital scale of the type used in the drug trade, the report said.

At some point, Morgan left the store unattended while customers were inside, Fair said. He was taken into custody and found in possession of 12 grams of cocaine and more than four grams of marijuana.

In addition to selling drugs, Morgan was also observed selling loose cigarettes to a customer.

For this reason, the city’s licensing and inspection office and the criminal investigation department of the state finance ministry became aware of the store.

Owner Tariq Mehmood, 58, of Egg Harbor Township was told his business would close.

Tariq Mehmood

Mehmood told BreakingAC that he was praying when the arrest was made and did not answer his phone.

He said he had no knowledge of the drug sales and stressed that he had not received anything in writing regarding the allegations against him.

But Dale Finch, director of licensing and inspections, said the charges were handed to Mehmood personally.

He was also told he could request a hearing to get his store reopened, Finch said.

This is not the first time that Mehmood has had problems with licenses and illegal sales.

By March 2013, Mehmood had two trading licenses revoked and was imprisoned twice in just over a year.

At that time, he was again charged with cigarette crimes and was sentenced to 364 days of police service, according to court records.

“We never do anything wrong here,” Mehmood insisted to BreakingAC, claiming he was being harassed because he was a Republican.

He made similar allegations eleven years ago. At the time, he claimed that he was a Pakistani immigrant who was unaware of certain regulations and was therefore targeted by the police.

“I wasn’t here at the time,” Finch said when he learned of Mehmood’s allegations.

The store owner acknowledged that different people are in charge today than over a decade ago, but that some of the same people are still “on the inside.”

While his store is closed, all the food spoils, he said. He has not yet hired a lawyer.

Morgan is charged with possession of a controlled dangerous substance, possession with intent to distribute, two counts of possession with intent to distribute within 500 feet of a public zone and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Mehmood and Yasmin Faheem, 39, of Atlantic City, are charged with possession of unstamped, out-of-state stamped and/or counterfeit cigarettes, trafficking cigarettes with an unlicensed person, selling cigarettes without a cigarette license and failure to display New Jersey cigarette dealer license.

Each of them was released on summons with a future court date.