Maine law enforcement raided an illegal marijuana grow at 414 Kennebec Road in Machias Thursday, confiscating more than 2,600 live marijuana plants and more than 100 pounds of processed cannabis.
“At 9:30 monday morning, the Machias Police Department executed a search warrant at 414 Kennebec Road in Machias. This was as the result of a very lengthy investigation we’ve been conducting for the last month or so into an illegal commercial marijuana grow operation located at that address,” said Machias Police Chief Keith Mercier.
Mercier said that three individuals, all of Asian descent, were arrested in the course of the raid and none of them appear to be U.S. Citizens.
Ming Li, 52, of Machias
Dong Yang Li, 60, of Brooklyn, NYC
Peng You Phang, 61, of Machias
“2,607 plants were seized, and over 100 pounds of processed marijuana was seized,” Mercier said.
The raid comes little more than one month after the Maine Wire published an investigative report revealing the locations and owners of dozens of Chinese-owned marijuana grows dotting rural Maine.
According to the Washington County Registry of Deeds, the Machias property was purchased in 2021 by HBA Properties, a Webster, Mass.-based company.
According to Mass. corporate records, the officers of that company are Fanny Sun, Qiao Yi Wu, Sinh Phat Voong, and Zhan Su.
Chen was not among those arrested Thursday morning, and it wasn’t immediately clear whether he would be questioned in connection with the raid.
All three men were charged with two Class B felonies for illegal trafficking in Schedule Z and illegal trafficking in cannabis with 500 plants or more, Mercier said.
The Office of Cannabis Policy, who assisted in the raid, determined that the facility was not operating in relation to any adult use recreational or medicinal license.
The federal Drug Enforcement Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency assisted in the investigation.
The street value of the marijuana seized would amount to more than $1.1 million dollars if sold in Maine, but the price could be three times as high if the product were to be trafficking to states where marijuana is still illegal.
Steve Robinson on the George Hale Ric Tyler Show describes the bust:
More from the Maine Wire’s TRIAD WEED Series
- How Chinese Marijuana Grows Took Over Rural Maine
- State Law Enforcement, Feds Struggle to Clamp Down on Illegal Chinese Drug Operations in Maine
- Maine Legislature Will Consider Proposal to Fight Chinese-owned Marijuana Operations
- Collins, Golden Renew Call for DOJ Action Against Illicit Chinese Marijuana Grows Following Maine Wire Report
(Correction: An earlier version of this story misidentified the owner of the property.)
Great reporting! This is how ALL reports need to be done!!!!
We have at least one of these grow houses, purchased 2+ years ago by a Chinese individual, here in South China! Authorities know about it, bug do nothing! It’s located at the end of the Tyler Road in South China! I would walk with my young nieces during the summer, but had to stop as the smell was too intense! When they purchased the house there was always MA, CT and NY registered cars in the driveway. They are now registered with Maine plates. All are either SUVs or vans.
…Machias PD in big trouble now! Jackboot Janet’s Legislative Council did not authorize this bust! Never mind the laws pertaining to illegal grows. Those have been superceded by ‘The Council’!
janet mills hometown of Farmington has weed stores every few blocks. It’s like going to Amsterdam. Really embarrassing. Even Amsterdam is trying to do away with the weed cafes. Turns out that weed stores attract losers.
If the dims were serious they could pass a law of forfeiture for grow houses and sell the assets to fund the homeless epidemic which they caused by not enforcing border policies.
In other news, the IRS says it will not tax the fuel assistance checks from last year after saying they would after saying they wouldn’t. So the IRS doesn’t know its own rules, what else do they not have a clue about? (clears throat, says under breath “vote buying”)
And finally, the mayor of Boston ushers in a new policy of segregation. Honestly I’m surprised it took so long seeing as the democratic party practically invented segregation. Getting the POC to applause this policy, well that’s just genius.
Has our congressional REP’s asked the Tres. Dept about this Queens bank; it is under their wing. I was under the impersion that those lending institutions were to lend to locals. Why are they in Maine?