Chinese Crime Groups Eye Illegal Marijuana Production In US, Lawmakers Warn

Earlier this month, Oklahoma's Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (OBNDD) served search warrants at four cannabis businesses following an investigation that led to linking sex trafficking, prostitution and drug trafficking to cannabis farms statewide.

As part of the search, agents seized nearly 7,000 plants, 250 pounds of processed cannabis, four guns and arrested several people.

A GOP state lawmaker said that among one million acres of Oklahoma farmland currently owned by foreign entities, nations like China are 100% using the land for drug production, reported Fox Business.

"These are Chinese criminal organizations that are moving in, and you're not going to move in and move that much money without some awareness of the Chinese Communist Party and setting up," Sen. James Lankford said on Wednesday's "Mornings with Maria" hosted by Maria Bartiromo. "Just in the last year, China has doubled the number of acres it has in the United States. They're buying up hundreds of thousands of acres across the country, and they're moving in criminal operations into the country."

What's Happening In California?

In California, last year's raid by law enforcement in a suburban neighborhood in Antioch yielded almost $15 million of cannabis, reported The Antioch Herald. That search included four houses near San Francisco that authorities linked to China.

The days when Mexican pot smugglers had to be creative to ship cannabis across one of the longest (1,954 miles) and most frequently crossed land borders in the world are gone, now that the Sinaloa Cartel once led by notorious drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán wants to go legit.

According to Business Insider (BI), the three sons of the notorious drug lord, who is currently serving a life sentence following extradition to the US, are now supervising the cartel's weed operations in Culiacán and are looking to regain its share of the cannabis business it once led. This time, it seems that the criminal organization wants to do it correctly and avoid the business's illegal side.

A Growing Issue

Enter Chinese investors, owners and workers who seem to be ready to take over illegal marijuana production.

Politico's Natalie Fertig wrote about a spike in the number of farms funded by sources that can be linked back to Chinese investors, especially in California, Oklahoma and Oregon.

Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio), a co-chair of the Congressional Cannabis Caucus and one of the featured speakers at Benzinga's April event, traced the new trend in the cannabis industry to a case of a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon that has been spotted in Montana last month.

"We've seen in recent weeks that the CCP's malign influence knows no bounds and, unfortunately, the cannabis industry is not immune to these tactics," Joyce told Politico.

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