On the night of March 23, 2026, Weehawken Patrolman Joseph Caputi observed a black Honda HR-V double-parked directly across from a mailbox at the intersection of Shippen Street and Hudson Avenue. Surveilling the vehicle from a distance, Caputi watched a man in dark clothing sprint from the mailbox and get into the car before it pulled away. Caputi followed the vehicle a short distance and conducted a motor vehicle stop, finding a female driver and three male passengers from the Bronx and Yonkers, New York.
- Weehawken Patrolman Joseph Caputi spotted a suspicious double-parked vehicle near a mailbox on March 23, 2026, triggering arrests tied to a theft ring that had targeted 13 mailboxes in town since January.
- Four suspects allegedly agreed to steal mail for $500 each at the direction of an unnamed ringleader, with recovered mail spanning New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
- Salah Altaweel, who was on federal probation at the time of his arrest, was found with a distribution quantity of suspected oxycodone and transported to the Hudson County Correctional Facility pending a pre-trial detention hearing.
The Search and What Was Found
Driver Gleona Agaj, 22, of Yonkers, New York, was found behind the wheel with a suspended license. She declined to give officers consent to search the vehicle, and the Honda was impounded while detectives sought a warrant, according to Deputy Police Chief James White.
The approved warrant led to the recovery of stolen checks and mail pulled from multiple jurisdictions, along with the devices believed to have been used in the operation. Mail fishing involves lowering rigged contraptions into public collection boxes to pull out envelopes holding checks, gift cards, or identifying documents that can be exploited for fraud.
Scope of the Theft Ring
The Weehawken Police Department had been logging complaints about mail stolen from 13 different mailboxes around town since January 2026. Recovered items in the Honda were traced to individuals in Weehawken, Union City, Secaucus, North Bergen, and Jersey City in New Jersey; Garrison, Yonkers, New York City, Queens, and the Bronx in New York; and Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
Regional and national businesses, along with various government agencies, were represented among the recovered mail as well.
The Arrests
Neither Agaj nor her boyfriend, Salah Altaweel of the Bronx, who had been riding in the front passenger seat that evening, were taken in during the initial stop. Authorities arrested both when they came to the impound lot to collect the vehicle.
Upon arresting Altaweel, officers found he was carrying a distribution quantity of suspected Oxycodone Hydrochloride that had not been prescribed to him and was not properly packaged. Already serving a term of federal probation, Altaweel was taken to the Hudson County Correctional Facility to await a pre-trial detention hearing. Agaj was issued a summons complaint and released.
The Alleged Conspiracy
Investigators determined that Agaj, Altaweel, and the two other passengers had allegedly agreed to carry out the mail thefts in exchange for $500 each, with payments coming from an unnamed ringleader. The two remaining suspects gave officers false personal information when questioned at the scene of the traffic stop.
Weehawken detectives are continuing to build the case alongside the New York Police Department, the United States Postal Police, and investigators from each affected jurisdiction, with additional charges being pursued. Authorities are in the process of reaching out to residents, corporations, and government entities whose mail and personal information were recovered.
Tips can be directed to the Weehawken Police Department Detective Bureau at 201-863-7800.
