A massive illegal marijuana growing facility at a residence in Madison was raided by law enforcement Tuesday, the latest in a string of over a dozen busts of similar illicit cultivation operations suspected to be part of a sprawling network of unlicensed grows in rural Maine owned by Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations.
According to the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office, a search warrant was executed at a residence on Horsetail Hill Road in Madison shortly after 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, the culmination of a month’s long investigation into suspected illegal marijuana cultivation at the property.
The team executing the search warrant was made up of detectives from the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office, two deputies, an agent from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), two agents from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), one agent from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and three detectives from the Waterville Police Department.
While no individuals were located at the residence when the search was conducted, approximately 1,854 marijuana plants, 10 pounds of processed marijuana and “assorted drug related documentation and paraphernalia” were seized during the search, Somerset Sheriff Dale Lancaster stated Tuesday.
“Once the case is reviewed by the Somerset County District Attorney’s Office, criminal charges will be forthcoming against those individuals responsible for the illegal marijuana plant cultivation activities that were, and have been, taking place at the residence/property,” Lancaster stated.
Additionally, Lancaster said that out of 14 similar illegal marijuana grow operations interrupted by the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office, the Horsetail Hill Road operation “had the worst case of black mold infestation in the interior of the buildings.”
The Madison Code Enforcement Officer was called to the residence to inspect “numerous health and safety violations” observed at the residence and outbuildings on the property.
The Somerset County Sheriff’s Office was assisted in their investigation into the property by investigators from the Maine Office of Cannabis Police, as well as the Somerset and Kennebec District Attorneys’ Offices and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Follow our the latest Triad Weed Investigative Series:
- The Triad’s Electrician: Meet the 87-Year-Old “Frontman” for Chinese Marijuana Grows in Maine
- Maine Gov. Janet Mills’ Brother Helped Transfer Nine-Acre Black Market Cannabis Grow to Chinese National “Mother” Living in Guangdong Province
- How the U.S. Treasury Department Helps Chinese Organized Crime Transform American Homes Into Drug Dens
- Maine Sheriff Raids Another Black Market Drug House Run by Chinese Organized Crime — Cannabis and Meth Seized
- Three Chinese Nationals Caught Sneaking Into Maine from Canada Amid Asian Organized Crime Epidemic
- Another One: Turner Firefighters Discover Suspected Illegal Chinese Marijuana Grow Near Bear Pond Variety
- One NYC Bank Financed More Than 50 Illicit Chinese Marijuana Grow Houses in Rural Maine
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="27650 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=27650">3 Comments
Yes, and what was the LEO price tag for saving the state of Maine from this horrible threat? How about we just make MJ FULLY LEGAL, so that everyone who wants to grow it can do so w/out the state wasting money supervising them? MJ will become plentiful to the point of worthlessness, LEOs will be free to focus on crimes that actually hurt someone, and criminals will have to find other ways to fund their crimes.
If the First Criminal, Joe Biden, does what his controllers, Soros and Barrack Hussein Obama, tell him to do, he will remove marijauna from the list of dangerous drugs. Perhaps the Chinese will then pay him ten percent of the profits they are making here in Maine, or, perhaps, they already are.
Our police are on it, but they need to catch the bad guys But were is King and our other “LEADERS”
There a lot more farms to go.- get them now.
Vote our do nothing leadership out.