Tell-Tale Signs Led To Cannabis Bust In Maine As Feds Crack Down On International Criminal Organizations Growing Illegal Weed

Maine’s law enforcement agencies recently busted another illegal grow operation seizing 40 pounds (18 kilograms) of processed cannabis, reported the Associated Press.

Xisen Guo, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China, was behind a hidden high-tech cannabis grow operation from his house in Passadumkeag, as per court documents. In February, he was arrested following a police raid of his illegal grow.

Guo's operation appeared on the police radar due to a hike in his utility bills that surged to nearly $9,000 a month from $300 before the house was bought for $125,000 in cash by a limited liability company. During the raid, police also found heat pumps, lighting and additional gear used for the cultivation of marijuana, according to court documents.

Last Friday, Guo was ordered held on federal drug charges.

Meanwhile, the case of Passadumkeag's hidden illicit cannabis grow is just one of roughly a hundred similar illegal weed grow operations in Maine, according to federal law enforcement officials. As of June 2023, some 40 search warrants have been issued.

Feds Crack Down On The Illicit Weed Cultivation

Maine's Congressional Delegation sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in August, calling on the agency to put an end to the presence of foreign-owned and illegally operated marijuana businesses statewide. “Law enforcement in the state has identified 270 suspected properties that have been used as illegal Chinese growing operations, producing an estimated $4.37 billion in revenue," the letter said at the time.

The move was followed up when a bipartisan group of 50 congress members from the House and Senate recently urged Attorney General Merrick Garland to look into potential connections between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and illicit cannabis cultivation operations not just in Maine, but throughout the United States.

“We are deeply concerned with reports from across the country regarding Chinese nationals and organized crime cultivating marijuana on United States farmland,” wrote the Congress members.

AG Garland told the Senate Appropriations Committee last week that the investigation of international criminal organizations operating illegal marijuana grows in about 20 states is ongoing, under the auspices of the DEA.

The IRS, Homeland Security and FBI are also part of the investigation.

U.S. Attorney Darcie McElwee said authorities have already put an end to "dozens of operations" over the past months.

"The possible involvement of foreign nationals using Maine properties to profit from unlicensed marijuana operations and interstate distributions makes it clear that there is a need for a strong and sustained federal, state and local effort to shut down these operations," McElwee said.