By CASSANDRA MICKENS / Associate Editor

BIRMINGHAM — The owner of Jubilee Joe’s Cajun Seafood Restaurant in Hoover has been indicted on federal drug trafficking, firearms and money laundering charges.

Kashif Mohammed Siddiqui, 32, of Birmingham, was arrested Dec. 4 based on an eight-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury Oct. 30, said U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance in a news release.

The indictment charges Siddiqui with conspiracy to distribute marijuana in Jefferson and Shelby counties between September 2012 and January 2013. The indictment also charges Siddiqui with two counts of distributing marijuana, once on Sept. 6, 2012, and again on Oct. 17, 2012.

Siddiqui also is charged with transferring a Bushmaster .223-calbiber semi-automatic rifle in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime on Oct. 17, 2012, and with selling or loaning a Glock .45-caliber pistol to a convicted felon on Oct. 20, 2012. The indictment also charges Siddiqui with conspiring to conduct a financial transaction involving proceeds of illegal activity on Nov. 19, 2012; and with both possessing with intent to distribute marijuana and possessing a Colt .223-caliber semi-automatic rifle in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime on Jan. 3, 2013.

Siddiqui was released from custody Dec. 4 on $20,000 bond after appearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge John H. England, according to court records. Siddiqui pleaded not guilty to the charges and turned in his passports issued by Pakistan.

According to Vance’s news release regarding the federal charges, the conspiracy and marijuana distribution charges each carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Transferring a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime and providing a firearm to a known felon both carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The money-laundering conspiracy charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of either $500,000 or double the amount laundered, whichever is greater. The charge of possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime carries a $250,000 fine and a prison term of five years to life in prison, which must be served after completion of any other sentence imposed for the crime.