(ellis kaplan)
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)
What a dope.
An ex-con was busted after cops in Queens stopped him running a red light early yesterday — and found enough marijuana in his car to get half of St. Albans high.
Cops said Clement Hunter, 30, had more than 500 pounds of pot — worth more than $1.5 million — packed into the back of a rented, white 2010 Dodge Caravan when he was nailed.
Hunter had been driving in St. Albans around 4 a.m. when a pair of uniformed officers on patrol in an unmarked car saw the minivan run a red light along Merrick Boulevard and make a right turn without signaling.
The cops made a U-turn to pull him over — and Hunter gunned his engine, officials said.
With the cops in hot pursuit, Hunter sped along for several blocks before turning down a dead end at 178th Street near 132nd Avenue, police said.
But he still wasn’t done, cops said. The bad-driving dope deliverer jumped out of the minivan and tried to run away.
The cops grabbed him as he tried to scale a fence, police said.
Once police had Hunter in custody, they began to understand his reluctance to turn over his license and registration.
The back of the minivan, its rear seats folded down, was piled high with 10 bales of marijuana, each weighing roughly 50 pounds.
The pot was tightly wrapped in green plastic and stuffed in black trash bags — so that it couldn’t be sniffed out, police said.
“It was in plain view,” a source said. “You can see what it was.”
Hunter, who lives in Jamaica, was arrested and faces a slew of charges, including 50 counts of felony criminal possession of marijuana in the first degree, reckless endangerment, and criminal possession of stolen property, officials said.
Cops said Hunter had four prior arrests, all involving marijuana or other drugs, and two of which included weapons charges.
In 2003, he was arrested for possession of marijuana and forgery and sentenced to two to six years in jail.
Officials said Hunter served about 18 months of that sentence, followed by two years on parole.
Cops said another arrest involved possession of an assault weapon and an “ammunition feeder.”
When he was busted yesterday, Hunter was awaiting court dates on a pair of drug-related charges.
One of those raps involved an incident on July 19, when Hunter was arrested in Queens and charged with criminal possession of marijuana.
He was released on his own recognizance for a scheduled court date on Jan. 18.
On Sept. 4, Hunter was arrested again in Queens — this time, for allegedly driving under the influence of drugs.
He was released again on his own recognizance for the Jan. 18 court date.
Cops who questioned Hunter yesterday said he was uncooperative in his latest skirmish with the law, according to officials, so they were unable to immediately determine where the drugs were going or where they were coming from.
Officials said the vehicle he was driving, which had Virginia license plates, was not rented in his name.