By Mary O’KEEFE

The owner of a local video store was arrested for suspicion of possession of marijuana for sale on Nov. 13.

Acting on a tip, the Glendale police narcotic officers served a search warrant to Video Pacific at 4050 La Crescenta Ave. on Friday at 9:30 p.m.

“We found [many] cartons of illegal cigarettes and 14 packages of marijuana packaged in small [plastic] bags. They were all in video [containers],” said Glendale Narcotics Det. Christian Hauptmann.

Hrazda Avanessians, 47, of Glendale was arrested for possession of marijuana for sale. Andre Balasanyan, 30, of Montrose was in the store at the time the warrant was served. He was found with a bag of marijuana in his pocket, the detective said.

“He admitted he had not bought the [marijuana] but had received it from the store owner. [Balasanyan]

was arrested for possession,” he added.

The cigarettes allegedly found during the search did not have state tax seals on them.

When officers entered the store they found a woman at the counter with six individual cigarettes that were apparently illegal. They were being sold to her for 30 cents each, Hauptmann said.

Avanessians told officers he had worked at the store for 15 years. The store remains open as of press time.

After receiving the tip of drug sales at the video store officers set up surveillance. Hauptmann said officers act on all tips that come into the department from the public and encourage local residents to contact the Glendale Police Department if they have any suspicions of illegal activity.

Glendale Police Department (818) 548-4840 or Crime Stoppers (818) 507-7867.