Three people were arrested Saturday after police found an illegal marijuana operation in the town of China.
Changgeng Chen, 36; Bing Xu, 41; and Aiqin Chen, 43, have been charged with unlawful trafficking in Schedule Z drugs, according to Lt. J. Chris Reed, a spokesperson for the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies went to a residence on Route 3 after they received a tip claiming someone was being held against their will at that address, Reed said Tuesday morning.
When they arrived, deputies observed none of the three were in distress or being held against their will. Deputies were given permission to check the area according to Reed.
Deputies soon found an unlicensed marijuana grow operation with five rooms, including three divided into two levels.
As a result, police seized 970 plants and many more seedlings, Reed said.
It’s just the latest large-scale illegal marijuana operation uncovered in the past year. They received greater scrutiny after the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office found an illegal marijuana operation in Carmel, where police seized 3,400 plants and 111 pounds of processed marijuana. Since then, other large illegal marijuana operations have been found in Dexter, Wilton, Machias and other communities.
A leaked federal government memo, first obtained by the conservative Daily Caller and published in August, estimates Maine has 270 large-scale illegal marijuana grows connected to organized crime groups in China. The memo’s authors note that the money may be used to further crime in the U.S. or be sent back to China.
Similar operations have been found in California, Oklahoma and Oregon.
In response, Maine’s congressional delegation sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, calling on the Department of Justice to crack down on such illegal marijuana operations.
It’s not yet clear whether the illegal marijuana grow uncovered Saturday or others are connected to the crime network described in the federal memo.
