It happened around 5:30 p.m. at a Storage King USA on Victory Boulevard in the Bulls Head section.
Officers recovered 275 pounds of marijuana, 3,935 rove THC cartridges and 8,100 glo extracts (cannabis oil cartridges).
That’s an awful lot of illegal drugs that will never be sold on the streets of #StatenIsland thanks to the great men and women @NYPD120Pct and @StatenIslandDA https://t.co/FBGtnBH6Ft
— NYPD Staten Island (@NYPDstatenIslnd) January 30, 2020
The street value is still being calculated, and there is no word yet on how authorities were tipped off to the location.
Police are looking into who rented the space, and the location is across the road from an open space of trees and tall grass in an area lined with businesses.
Officials say these kinds of operations are becoming more common as sellers are producing pot and the cartridges used in vaping. But some of these products have been associated with lung illnesses across the country, including some fatal cases.
The NYPD has said it doesn't expect this kind of illegal activity to disappear even if they legalize recreational marijuana in the state.
The storage facility is still open for business, and police continue to go through the evidence in hopes of finding the person responsible for the significant drug operation.
There are no arrests at this time, and the investigation is ongoing.