Three World Trade Center construction workers have been charged with possessing and selling marijuana at the site in lower Manhattan.
The arrests Friday are part of a seven-month investigation by the site's integrity monitor and the Port Authority inspector general. A law enforcement source said the men, who were concrete workers helping to build the new transit hub at the 16-acre project, sold marijuana, cocaine, prescription drugs, ecstasy and mushrooms to fellow workers.
Port Authority spokesman Steve Coleman said integrity inspectors on site first became suspicious when they noticed the smell of marijuana near some portable toilets. Investigators then made several undercover drug buys from the three workers, who are from the Bronx, Brooklyn and Jersey City.
Workers at the site were stunned to hear of the arrests.
"It gives tradesmen a bad name," said Jeff Escobar, a sheet metal worker.
Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye says such behavior won't be tolerated.
“There is no place at the World Trade Center site for those who want to use or sell illegal drugs thereby endangering their co-workers and the public," Foye said in a statement. "We will not tolerate this behavior, and those who try to get away with it will be caught, prosecuted and permanently tossed off the site.”
Electrical worker Anton Schwab said the arrested workers aren't representative of the crew on site.
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"You've got a few bad apples but for the most part, everybody is on the up-and-up around here, doing their jobs," said Schwab.
