DEARBORN — Six Arab Americans from Dearborn, Dearborn Heights and Detroit, were arrested on Friday, August 2 and indicted on federal charges of running a drug ring in a Detroit neighborhood. 

Mohamed Faraj, 29, and Fouad Faraj, 43, of Dearborn Heights, are accused of leading the ring that allegedly distributed marijuana and prescription pills in the Warrendale area, a Detroit neighborhood around Warren Avenue, between Greenfield and Telegraph Roads. 

The brothers were supposedly assisted by another brother, Abed Faraj, 38, of Detroit.

The men allegedly used abandoned houses in the Rutherford/Whitlock area in the Warrendale community.

The indictment alleges that the ring employed numerous teenagers and young men as street-level distributors.

A press release from U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade stated that the men allegedly had access to guns to help them further drug distribution. 

“The operations and arrest warrants highlight the ATF’s (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) and our law enforcement partners’ effort to remove armed violent drug dealers from our streets,” said ATF Special Agent Daryl McCrary. “We are committed to reducing violent crime, and this case emphasizes a repetitive problem of illegal narcotics traffickers, who are willing to use and carry firearms to protect their drug proceeds.” 

In addition to the Faraj brothers, Mohammed Abdul Alhakami, 22, of Detroit; Ali Al-Hisnawi, 20, of Detroit; and Adnan Bazzi, 28, of Dearborn, are accused of being a part of the alleged ring as well. 

The suspects are charged with conspiracy to possess, with intent to distribute controlled substances. Further charges of possession of firearms in furtherance of narcotics trafficking are brought against the Farajs, Alhakami and Bazzi.