Oklahoma farmers are warning residents about Chinese-owned cannabis farms that support heavily armed workers using fake Amazon trucks.
Authorities in Oklahoma, Oregon, California, New Mexico and Maine have been battling a rise in Chinese marijuana farms, some of which are believed to be linked to criminal gangs known as “triads.”
The spread is seemingly unstoppable: In February, police in Penobscot County, Maine, arrested three Chinese nationals at a marijuana farm and seized 40 pounds of the drug along with $4,700 in cash.
Oklahoma authorities are reported to have shut down at least 15 black market farms a day.
Local native farmers like Larry Williams have been intimidated by stories of Chinese-owned farmers arming themselves with AK-47s.
Oklahoma farmers are warning residents about Chinese-owned cannabis farms supporting heavily armed workers using fake Amazon trucks.
“You see things that look suspicious to you,” said Williams, who farms and harvests with his son Colby. NewsNation Senior National Correspondent Brian Entin during ‘On Balance With Leland Vittert.’
There are other signs of illegal greenhouses that separate them from the native Oklahomans.
Some of them have air conditioning units outside the barns, or fences that none of the other farms have, as many are up and ready to go after just a few months of construction, Williams says.
According to researchers, they also use disguised Amazon trucks, as well as packaging that looks like Amazon.
Marijuana is sold on the black market to East Coast dealers, who profit even though many East Coast states have legalized recreational cannabis.
Profits are then returned to mainland China.
‘The Chinese are not stupid. I mean, they recognize it and they can exploit and drive the behavior of unsuspecting Oklahomans through this cash transaction,’ Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond told NewsNation’s On Balance With Leland Vittert.
Gov. Kevin Stitt says the state has gotten rid of 6,000 fake homes since 2021, 80 percent of which were linked to China.
Authorities in Oklahoma, Oregon, California, New Mexico and Maine have been battling a surge in Chinese marijuana grows, some of which are believed to be linked to criminal gangs known as “triads.”
Black market producers use disguised Amazon trucks, according to investigators, as well as Amazon-like packaging.
They have attempted to contain the problem by increasing the costs of entering and doing business in the state.
Stitt says they could use more help from federal drug enforcement, but demands Joe Biden’s help in closing the border.
“You have to tie this to the border,” Stitt said. ‘Part of this is coming across the southern border. “We are begging the president of the United States to implement some of those Trump policies of remaining in Mexico.”
Earlier this year, a Chinese ringleader was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to fatally shooting four people at an illegal medical marijuana operation in Oklahoma.
Mexican cartels have long dominated the illegal marijuana market in the United States, but officials now warn that Chinese financing for such operations is skyrocketing.
It is not known whether the money comes from groups connected to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), but experts have noted that triads are typically only allowed to operate if they agree to act as informal “enforcers” for the government.
Last year, a Homeland Security memo was leaked to the person who calls daily attributed the growth to Asian transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and one official raised the possibility that profits are being funneled back to Beijing.
Chinese immigrant workers have alleged they were lured to northern New Mexico under false pretenses and forced to work 14 hours a day at an illegal marijuana plant backed by funds from a China-based energy giant, according to a lawsuit filed last year. .
Gov. Kevin Stitt says the state has gotten rid of 6,000 fake homes since 2021, 80 percent of which were linked to China.
One of the native legal growers says the fake greenhouses are armed with AK-47s.
The operation was shut down by police in 2020, but those behind it moved to Oklahoma, taking many of their workers with them, before that farm was also busted in 2022.
Crackdowns in southern and western states have been presented as one of the reasons for the explosion of weed farms in Maine.
For several years, Maine residents have talked about an increase in the number of homes filled with the smell of marijuana that are popping up across the state, including near daycares and schools.
The Chinese owners, who speak little or no English, have reportedly earned a notorious reputation throughout Maine for spending thousands of dollars on growing equipment, i.e. demanding items from their phones.
The homes that have been identified as part of the sprawling state apparatus appear to be in quiet, everyday suburbs, but are said to have been plaguing their neighborhoods as a strong smell of marijuana emanates even from a distance and are equipped with extensive electrical upgrades.
Experts estimate that a standard 2,500-square-foot home can produce more than $3 million worth of marijuana each year.
Some of the profits are allegedly sent directly to China, while some of the ill-gotten profits remain in the United States to sustain criminal activities.
According to an investigation by Maine Wire into 100 of the sites identified, all were purchased since marijuana was legalized, by single Chinese adults, primarily from New York and Massachusetts.
Governor Stitt claims the state has gotten rid of 6,000 fake homes since 2021, 80 percent of which were linked to China.
Stitt says they could definitely use more help from federal drug enforcement, but demands Joe Biden’s help by closing the border
Although the houses are supposedly filed under unique names, many are linked by factors such as automobile registrations, indicating that they may be connected and controlled by an umbrella organization.
Neighbors say it has become an almost monthly sight to see a van with New York or Massachusetts license plates pull up to houses full of marijuana.
In January, Maine authorities raided an illegal Chinese-run marijuana operation in the aptly named China Town in Kennebec County.
The Chinese-owned grow plants have emerged at a time when the marijuana industry is exploding in the US, opening up million-dollar income streams for many, including the Amish community, which was detailed in a DailyMail investigation. com last year.
Nationwide, the Department of Homeland Security has found a total of 749 properties linked to transnational Asian organizations, indicating that Maine has become a particular hotbed of CCP activity.
This comes amid growing frustration over law enforcement’s failure to crack down on illicit operations, with the Department of Homeland Security reportedly asking Maine police to help them gather information on the properties in September .
“There are hundreds of these operations across the state,” Penobscot County Sheriff Troy Morton told the Daily Caller at the time.
“It is upsetting to those who live near these operations, and even to those who follow Maine laws and procedures.”
This home in Belgrade, Maine, was raided by police earlier this year after authorities said they discovered illegal marijuana growing operations inside. Two Chinese citizens were arrested
Maine police confiscated 970 marijuana plants at a Chinese farm in China City in January.
Those Morton was referring to, particularly Maine’s law-abiding marijuana industry, say the infiltration of ‘Triad weed’ has been a disaster.
“When I say they operate like a mafia, it’s absolutely true,” one legal insider told the Maine Wire. “They have a very intricate network.”
Many in the legal marijuana industry say they have been forced to become extremely selective in avoiding the use of marijuana grown in China, as it is often found to contain harmful chemicals, including pesticides.
The harmful elements in the product are another example of the struggle authorities have had to clamp down on illegal marijuana grown by illegal immigrants.
“Regardless of where people are from, the real problem involves conflicting state and federal laws,” Morton said. “We also have little to no oversight, which allows criminal activity to occur to a high degree.”