Federal Charges for Massive Chinese-Funded Illegal Marijuana Grow on Navajo Land in New Mexico

A federal jury in late January indicted three people for their alleged involvement in a massive 400-acre illegal marijuana cultivation that has been operating out of Navajo Nation land in New Mexico and involved Chinese investment and migrant workers, charging documents indicate.

The nine-page indictment charges Dineh Benally, 48, his 78-year-old father, Donald Benally, and Irving Rea Yui Lin, 73, who federal prosecutors say is a California resident, with a slew of crimes related to the illegal marijuana operation, including the possession and distribution of more than 1,000 kilograms of marijuana.

The charges stem from November 2020 raids from the 25 illegal marijuana grows allegedly operated and controlled by the defendants, during which law enforcement seized approximately 60,000 pounds of marijuana and about 260,000 marijuana plants. At the time of those raids, the marijuana cultivation operation was not licensed.

In a later search of two more marijuana farms allegedly operated by Dineh Benally in Estancia, New Mexico, authorities identified 10 Chinese migrant workers, and seized approximately 8,500 pounds of marijuana, $35,000 cash, illegal pesticides, 43 grams of methamphetamine, two firearms, and a bullet proof vest, among other pieces of evidence.

The marijuana cultivation complex allegedly involved the construction of more than 1,100 cannabis greenhouses across 400 acres in the Shiprock area of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico. By the time of the second raid, operators had first secured licenses but then these were revoked to to violations.

The three defendants are also accused of violating the federal Clean Water Act by discharging pollutants into the San Juan River, filling in a channel along the San Juan River dam, and installing a sandbag dam along the San Juan River, which prosecutors say potentially caused significant environmental damage to the area.

Additionally, the indictment alleges that Dineh Benally and Rea Yui Lin “solicited Chinese investors to obtain funding to build infrastructure to grow and cultivate marijuana.”

“The Department of Justice will protect the sanctity of the ancestral lands and waters of our Tribal partners from those who would exploit them for profit,” said U.S. Attorney for the District of New Mexico Alexander Uballez.

“The FBI remains committed to continue to dismantle criminal organizations operating in New Mexico,” said Raul Bujanda, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Albuquerque Division.

“Effective law enforcement requires strong partnerships at every level,” Bujanda said. “This operation is a testament to the power of collaboration between state, local, tribal, and federal agencies to ensure justice is served and our communities are protected.”

If convicted, the three defendants will each face a minimum of 10 years to up to life in prison.

The Navajo Division of Public Safety released a statement on the arrest of Donald Benally on Jan. 23, 2025, saying that “[m]any Dine’ farmlands were destroyed and its fresh water polluted with pesticides, creating an imbalance and disharmony for the Dine’ people and its land.”

“The disruption occurred when the people’s cornfields were replaced with marijuana fields and its yellow corn pollen way of life was trampled on by greed,” the department wrote.”