WESTBROOK – A convenience store owner in Westbrook is behind bars after his arrest on a charge of trafficking in cocaine.

Police say 38-year-old Abbas Al-Hamdany of Gorham is being held without bail because he had been free on bail after a drunken driving arrest.

Al-Hamdany is an Iraqi refugee who arrived in the United States in 1994 and often had been quoted in the media before and after the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Westbrook Police Chief William Baker said the drug investigation was triggered by complaints from residents about drug activity at Al-Hamdany’s store, Friendly Discount.

Police say additional arrests are anticipated.

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