Police: Clinton store sold fake urine to beat drug tests

Musa Odeh, 39, was charged last week with defrauding drug and alcohol screen tests, dispensing medication without a license, sale of glass tubes by a retailer and manufacturing or delivering drug paraphernalia. He was released after posting a $65,000 bond.

Odeh and his brother operate the Happy Mart Tobacco Shop, at 202 on Northeast Blvd. in Clinton. An anonymous tip led to a two-month investigation of the store, and police searched the shop last week.

Sgt. Anthony Davis of the Clinton Police Department said Wednesday that officers found 13 glass tubes commonly used for smoking crack cocaine and antibiotics and other prescription drugs from Latin America in the store.

"They were found in a way – underneath the counter – that made me believe they were selling them to the public," Davis said, adding that an informant had purchased some "illegal items" from the store during the investigation.

Police also seized a dozen containers of Magnum Detox Novelty Synthetic Urine during the search of the shop. The product is advertised as "intended as protection of your privacy. For legal use only."

"I don't know any other reason to have synthetic urine ... than to cheat a drug test," Davis said. "Most of these labs today, they don't even test for genetics in urine. So, all they test for is the drugs, the stuff they find in the urine. So, they don't know if it's synthetic urine or not."

Synthetic urine is banned in North and South Carolina and in at least six other states, according to Best4DrugTest.com, a website that sells kits to flush drug toxins from your body.

Odeh declined to comment, but his brother, who didn't want his name used, said Odeh is innocent of all of the charges. The fake urine was shipped to the store from a California company by mistake and was never sold to customers, the brother said, and the prescription drugs belonged to relatives visiting from Honduras and weren't for sale.

Happy Mart remains open.