Hoover Restaurant Owner Charged With Trafficking Marijuana

BIRMINGHAM -- The owner of Jubilee Joe's Restaurant in Hoover faces federal drug trafficking, firearms and money laundering charges, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey L. Fulton.

An eight-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in October against KASHIF MOHAMMED SIDDIQUI, 32, of Birmingham, was unsealed today following his arrest. The indictment charges Siddiqui with conspiracy to distribute marijuana in Jefferson and Shelby counties between September 2012 and January 2013. The indictment also charges Siddiqui with two counts of distributing marijuana, once on Sept. 6, 2012, and again on Oct. 17, 2012.

The indictment further charges Siddiqui with transferring a Bushmaster .223-caliber semi-automatic rifle in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime on Oct. 17, 2012, and with selling or loaning a Glock .45-caliber pistol to a convicted felon on Oct. 20, 2012. The indictment also charges Siddiqui with conspiring to conduct a financial transaction involving proceeds of illegal activity on Nov. 19, 2012; and with both possessing with intent to distribute marijuana and possessing a Colt .223-caliber semi-automatic rifle in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime on Jan. 3, 2013.

The conspiracy and marijuana distribution charges each carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Transferring a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime and providing a firearm to a known felon both carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The money-laundering conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of either $500,000 or double the amount laundered, whichever is greater. The charge of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime carries a $250,000 fine and a prison term of five years to life in prison, which must be served after completion of any other sentence imposed for the crime.

ATF investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney E. Wilson Hunter is prosecuting.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges. It is the government's responsibility to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.