Multiple Arrests Made After Police Find 2,600 Illegal Pot Plants Inside Maine Home

Multiple men have been arrested after Maine officials discovered more than 2600 illegally grown marijuana plants inside an area home.

WGME 13 is reporting that the FBI, Immigration Agencies and the Washington County Sheriff's Office were all involved in the bust that happened on Thursday in the town of Machias, Maine.

Police say that they seized more then 2,600 illegally grown pot plants inside a home located at 414 East Kennebec Road, according to the news station Keith Mercier, Machias Chief of Police, says that the teams raided the home at about 9:30 a.m. Thursday.

WGME reported that among those arrested were, Dongyang Li, 60, of Brooklyn, New York, Ming Li, 52, of Machias, and Peng Yu Chan, 61, of Machias.

All three men were reportedly charged with multiple counts of felony drug trafficking. The news station also reported that none of the men are US citizens.

WGME reports that this bust was important because of the likely link to a large network of Chinese-backed marijuana grows that are happening, not just in Maine, but around the country. Additionally, the news station noted, the 58-acre property that was raided in Machias was purchased by a Chinese-backed company back in 2021.

WGME 13 went on to explain in their article that Maine has a suspected 270 illegal marijuana growing operations with potential ties to China. Those grows combined have an estimated value of aound $4,000,000,000, according to the news station.

Yes, that's four BILLION dollars.

This is the most recent in a series of grow busts that have happened in the State of Maine in recent months. We last reported on a substantial grow that had Chinese ties busted in Carmel, Maine where 3,400 plants were seized.

All suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.