Westbrook police and state drug agents arrested a local businessman, who became well-known as a successful Iraqi immigrant opposed to Saddam Hussein, on charges of cocaine trafficking.

Police led Abbas Al-Hamdany, 38, of Gorham away from his Main Street convenience store, Friendly Discount, in handcuffs this afternoon to a waiting cruiser.

Al-Hamdany is being held without bail at Cumberland County Jail because he is currently out on bail following a drunk driving arrest, said Westbrook Police Chief William Baker. Westbrook police joined agents with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency in making the arrest.

Baker invited the media to witness the arrest as a way to send a message to the community, that regardless of a person's standing in the city, police would not tolerate drug activity.

The police investigation was initiated following many complaints from residents about drug activity at the store, Baker said.

Baker said Al-Hamdany was more than a street level dealer, and that he sold drugs to people throughout the region, but would not provide specifics about what quantity of drugs Al-Hamdany is alleged to have sold. He said police plan additional arrests in connection with the investigation in the coming weeks.

Al-Hamdany was quoted often by the media before and after the U.S. invasion of Iraq. He had fled Iraq in March 1991 after he and his brothers joined the uprising against Saddam Hussein during the first Persian Gulf War.

He came to the United States as a political refugee in December 1994 and moved to Maine in 1995.

Al-Hamdany served time in federal prison after a 1998 conviction for trafficking in cocaine.

Baker said it is unfortunate that Al-Hamdany's alleged involvement in the drug trade gives a bad image to all the immigrants and refugees who work hard and play by the rules.