LIE service road closed for suspicious backpack, cops say

Nassau County police closed a Long Island Expressway service drive for two hours on Tuesday to investigate a suspicious backpack on the road, then found illegal drugs inside the backpack belonged to a Roslyn Heights man.

A stretch of the North Service Road west of Exit 37 on the LIE was closed starting sometime around 4:30 p.m. as police investigated the report of a suspicious package.

The Arson Bomb Squad found that the backpack belonged to Jason Liarikos, 19, of North Service Road, and it contained a pound of marijuana and an ounce of hashish, police said.

Liarikos was arrested at his home, not far from where the backpack was left, on charges of criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal possession of marijuana.

He is scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday at First District Court in Hempstead.