Police raided illegal marijuana growing operations in Manchester and Farmingdale on Thursday morning and seized more than 1,000 plants.
Neighbors had complained about the smell from a residence at 399 Pond Road, described by the Kennebec County Sheriff’s Office as an old farmhouse converted for use as a grow house.
At about 9:40 a.m., Thursday, police used a warrant to search the house and seized 1,168 plants. No one was home at the time of the raid, according to the sheriff’s office.
Just after 10:30 a.m., police raided a house at 18 Sheldon St. in Farmingdale that was a suspected illegal marijuana grow operation. They found no plants but reported finding “evidence a large amount of marijuana had recently been harvested.”
No one has been charged in either case.
These are just the latest large-scale illegal marijuana operations uncovered in Maine in recent months.
Since the beginning of the new year, police have been active in busting these large operations, which have been found all over rural Maine, from Brownville, Guilford, Milo and Sangerville in Piscataquis County, to Corinna, Eddington, Holden and Passadumkeag in Penobscot County, to Turner in Androscoggin County, to Canaan, Cornville, Harmony, Madison, Mercer, Norridgewock, Ripley, Skowhegan and St. Albans in Somerset County, to Jay in Franklin County, to Belgrade, China and Chelsea in Kennebec County, to Jefferson and Whitefield in Lincoln County, to Belmont and Freedom in Waldo County.
These operations received greater scrutiny after the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office found an illegal marijuana grow house in Carmel, where police seized 3,400 plants and 111 pounds of processed marijuana in late June 2023. As the year dragged on, police uncovered other large illegal marijuana operations in Dexter, Wilton, Machias and other communities.
A leaked federal government memo, first obtained by the conservative Daily Caller and published last August, estimated that Maine had as many as 270 large-scale illegal marijuana grows connected to organized crime groups in China. The memo’s authors noted 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.
“The possibility that organized criminal enterprises with alleged ties to China are using Maine properties to profit from unlicensed marijuana operations and interstate distribution makes it clear that there is need for a strong and sustained federal, state and local effort to shut down and thoroughly investigate these operations,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Maine Darcie N. McElwee said in early May.
McElwee said that more than 40 illegal marijuana operations have been shut down in recent months, while approximately 100 more may continue to be operating in Maine.
“We expect this law enforcement action to continue until the individuals operating the illegal grows come to understand that Maine is not a safe or hospitable place for such activity,” McElwee vowed.
So far, no connections have been found to illegal immigration or human trafficking, with most suspects being either U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
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 the attorney general.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency is investigating criminal syndicates running illegal grows in at least 20 states. That revelation from U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland came in response to questioning by Collins during an Appropriations Committee hearing in mid-April.
It’s unclear whether the Manchester and Farmingdale operations are connected to other illegal marijuana grows in Maine or to the crime network described in the federal memo.
This story has been updated to correct the town of the second residence raided on Thursday. It was in Farmingdale.
