Police have busted another major illegal marijuana operation in central Maine.
During the Thursday raid on the Riverside Drive home in Norridgewock, police seized more than 2,000 marijuana plants, 10 pounds of harvested marijuana, other drug material and a 2016 Ford Transit van, according to the Waterville Morning Sentinel.
No arrests have been made, but those involved in the operation face charges of illegal marijuana cultivation and trafficking in scheduled drugs, the Sentinel reported.
That seizure comes as police across Maine have been grappling with a surge in large illegal marijuana operations.
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 in late June. Since then, other large illegal marijuana operations have been found in Dexter, Wilton, Machias, Orland and other communities.
Even more illegal marijuana operations have been uncovered in the past few weeks.
Police have raided seven properties in Chelsea, Jefferson and Whitefield since Jan. 10, resulting in six arrests and the seizure of more than 6,066 marijuana plants.
On Jan. 31, Androscoggin County sheriff’s deputies seized about 2,500 marijuana plants from an operation in Turner after a bystander reported seeing smoke coming from a garage.
In Cornville, sheriff’s deputies seized 750 marijuana plants and 90 pounds of processed marijuana, all worth an estimated $200,000. Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster described the operation as “very-well organized” during a county commissioners meeting on Jan. 17.
In Belgrade, police arrested two people and seized 2,300 marijuana plants on Jan. 2, while in the town of China, three people were arrested and police seized 970 plants and many more seedlings on Dec. 30.
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. These operations generate an estimated $4.37 billion in revenue.
Similar operations have been found in California, Oklahoma and Oregon.
Maine’s congressional delegation has twice pressed the U.S. Justice Department to crack down on these illegal marijuana operations, most recently on Jan. 25, 2024.
“We applaud Maine law enforcement for their continued efforts to investigate and shutdown these illegal operations, and we encourage the Department of Justice (DOJ) and other federal partners to provide additional support for these efforts. These illegal growing operations are detrimental to Maine businesses that comply with State laws, and we urge the DOJ to shut them down,” U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King and U.S. Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden said in their January letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
It’s not yet clear whether that operation is connected to others uncovered across Maine or to the crime network described in the federal memo.
Lancaster, the Somerset County sheriff, is releasing few details about the raid because of an ongoing investigation, according to the Sentinel.
