The kind-hearted clerk who showed mercy on a weeping would-be robber by giving him $40 and a loaf of bread was busted for selling illegal drug paraphernalia, officials said.
Mohammed Sohail is one of seven Long Island store owners in the Brookhaven and Huntington areas who were targeted by investigators that raided his deli earlier this week, Newsday reported.
Sohail, who owns the Shirley Express Convenience Deli, was in violation of town codes that prohibit the hawking of pipes, bongs or hookahs, according to the paper.
The charges against Sohail are civil and not criminal, Newsday reported.
"I threw everything in the garbage," Sohail told Newsday after the raid. "I don't want it anymore."
Sohail was touted as a hero when he pulled a rifle on a bat-wielding, masked robber who entered his Suffolk County store on May 21.
The man then fell to his knees and began sobbing -- begging for mercy and claiming he had just lost his job and needed to feed his hungry family.
Local
Sohail was moved by his story and told the man, "Promise me that you'll never rob anybody again."
He then tossed the would-be thief two $20 bills and a loaf bread -- then he allowed the wanna-be robber take off on foot.
"You're a very nice guy, a gentle man," the robber said to Sohail. "I want to be a Muslim like you."
"I said, 'Do you really want to do that?'" Sohail said. "'He said,'Yes,' so I told him to stand up and raise his hand."
The store owner led the robber through a profession of faith.
"And I said, 'Congratulations,'" Sohail said.
Sohail said he did not want to press charges.
