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Borough resident Ahmad Elfki, 20, was still in the Walgreens on Belmont Avenue when Officer Kris Duci, Corporal April Latona and Detective Lt. Tim Lindberg arrived, they said.
Elfki (above, left), who was previously banned from the store, bolted out an emergency fire exit, triggering an alarm, Deputy Police Chief George Guzman Jr. said.
He hustled toward Morrissee Avenue with “a shopping cart laden with stolen merchandise” -- $2,776.25 worth, to be exact -- and was quickly taken into custody, the deputy chief said.
Elfki was charged with shoplifting, resisting arrest, obstruction and trespassing and sent to the Bergen County Jail. A judge in Paterson released him that very same day under New Jersey’s bail reform law, records show.
Less than 48 hours earlier, Elfki’s older brother stole a 2018 Toyota Corolla that its driver had briefly parked in front of another Belmont Avenue business a few blocks down, Guzman said.
Area surveillance footage shows Amir Elfki, 31, also of Haledon, getting into and driving the Corolla away, he said.
Detective Jeffrey Welsh learned that Elfki (above, right) had entered three other vehicles before finding the one he stole, Guzman said.
A warrant was issued, and the elder Elfki was tracked down in the 300 block of North 6 Street in Prospect Park two days later.
Welsh, Lindberg, Latona, Duci, Detective Sgt. Christian Clavo, Detective Corporal Semir Celoski participated, the deputy chief said.
Elki was charged with theft and had to be released, with a court date, under New Jersey's bail reform law.
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