Charges filed in 20-state DEA investigation into illegal cannabis operations

Federal agents have begun filing criminal charges in a sweeping 20-state investigation into an international cannabis ring, Attorney General Merrick Garland said during a congressional hearing last week.

According to the Associated Press, at least one defendant – Xisen Guo, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China – has been arrested and charged with federal marijuana crimes in Maine, where he allegedly ran an unlicensed grow operation. Guo on Friday was ordered held without bail and had a detention hearing slated for Monday, the AP reported.

Garland said that it’s not only the DEA investigating international cannabis criminal organizations with footprints in the United States. The Internal Revenue Service, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the DEA, and local law agencies are all teaming up to target the illegal cultivation operations in 20 states, Garland told a Senate committee.

There are about 200 such illegal cannabis grow houses in Maine, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins asserted during the hearing, while pressing Garland on what the DOJ was doing to combat the issue.

Garland replied, “It’s not only a Maine problem.”

“DEA is reporting that there are transnational criminal organizations in some 20 states that are not so much grow houses, but illegal marijuana grows,” Garland said, adding that the Maine U.S. attorney has made the investigations “a priority.”

The U.S. Attorney for Maine, Darcie McElwee, told the AP that shutting down all illegal marijuana operations is an ongoing quest. McElwee said there’s been “dozens of operations” closed in recent 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 told the AP.