Chinese gangs have established thousands of illicit marijuana farms across the United States as they begin to challenge Mexican cartels for supremacy as American cannabis kingpins.
Authorities in Oklahoma, Oregon, California, New Mexico and Maine have been battling a surge in Chinese marijuana grows, with some believed to be linked to criminal gangs known as “triads.”
The spread is apparently unstoppable, and police in Penobscot County, Maine, last week arrested three Chinese nationals at a marijuana farm and seized 40 pounds of the drug along with $4,700 in cash.
It is believed to be one of around 270 illegal marijuana farms worth more than $4 billion that have sprung up across the state since the drug was legalized in 2020.
Local authorities have already carried out multiple raids this year.
A Chinese worker at an illegal cannabis farm in New Mexico that was closed in 2020. Former workers at the plant filed a lawsuit last year against their bosses alleging mistreatment.
Earlier this month, police in northern Maine raided several properties suspected of being part of a 270-person illegal marijuana grow ring in China.
Chen Wu, 47, was sentenced to life in prison earlier this year after pleading guilty to fatally shooting four people at an illegal medical marijuana operation in Oklahoma.
Meanwhile, about 2,000 “suspicious” marijuana plants in Oklahoma have been linked to China, representing two-thirds of the marijuana farms under surveillance, state narcotics police said. political.
Earlier this month, 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. .
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 reason 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.
A sprawling illegal marijuana plant in New Mexico was shut down after authorities found a network of 1,100 greenhouses across 400 acres.
The deal was backed by financing from a China-based energy giant, according to a lawsuit seen by DailyMail.com
A Travel Inn in Farmington, New Mexico, was used to process the grown marijuana.
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.
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.
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 cultivated plants 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.com investigation. last year.
Nationwide, the Department of Homeland Security reportedly found a total of 749 properties linked to Asian TCOs, indicating that Maine has become a particular hotbed of CCP activity.
It comes amid growing frustration over law enforcement’s failure to crack down on illicit operations, with the Department of Homeland Security reportedly pleading with Maine police to help them gather information about 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.”
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 Chinese-grown marijuana, 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.”