A Southwest Baltimore liquor store owner who authorities say had more than 150,000 tiny plastic bags that often are used to package drugs was fined more than $8,000 yesterday by the Board of Liquor License Commissioners and ordered not to sell liquor for at least 40 days, beginning Monday.

Jeanne Wei, 50, also was cited for selling alcohol to a minor.

Wei owns Sunny Liquors Inc. in the 2000 block of Frederick Ave. She testified that she purchased the bags - commonly used to package marijuana and cocaine - so customers could use them for jewelry. She said an Asian man from New York suggested in March that she sell the "jewelry bags" to boost business.

But the board rejected Wei's claim, considering the bags drug paraphernalia under state law.

"We believe ... these bags were purchased to sell to drug dealers, ... and we're not going to put up with it," liquor board Chairman Leonard R. Skolnik told Wei. "The idea that the bags were sold for jewelry is ridiculous."

Samuel T. Daniels, chief inspector for the liquor board, said he believes Wei knew of the bags' use in the drug trade.

"I think the sentence is reflective of the drug problem and the board's judgment as to the store's contribution to that problem," Daniels said. "One of the valuable things to doing alcohol stings all over the city is it enables us to uncover other problems."

The drug paraphernalia was discovered April 25 after an underage police cadet purchased a 22-ounce can of malt liquor without being asked for identification.

Daniels said that for more than a year, he, the police cadet, Inspector U.M. Abdul-Hamid and Baltimore police Officer Darren Belechto have been monitoring city establishments that sell alcohol.

All four testified yesterday, as did Carolyn Brown-Coby, secretary of Boyd-Booth Concerned Citizens. She has lived in the Boyd-Booth community for 14 years and said it has a problem with illegal drug sales.

But Brown-Coby gave Wei the benefit of the doubt, saying she might have been duped into selling the bags without knowing they were illegal. "I just hope she stops selling them," Brown-Coby said.

David Kim, vice president of the Korean-American Grocers and Licensed Beverage Foundation of Maryland, said he thinks Wei might have had some knowledge of the bags' use, but said the fine is too steep. He said Wei doesn't have $8,000 and that her attorney, Melvin Kodenski, might appeal.