Seven Chinese nationals face charges in the use of illegal marijuana grow houses in Maine and Massachusetts as part of a multi-million-dollar drug trafficking ring.
The defendants are accused of smuggling in other Chinese nationals to work in the grow houses with no access to their passports until they repaid their smuggling debts.
Six of the seven defendants were reportedly arrested Tuesday morning, with one still at large.
The Justice Department says quiet, single family homes in Maine were used as part of an interconnected grow house network to distribute large quantities of marijuana in bulk.
“Today, we arrested members of an alleged Chinese-run drug trafficking organization who are accused of running a massive marijuana cultivation and distribution scheme that has raked in millions and contributed widely to the illegal drug trade here in the Northeast,” said Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Division in a statement.
Charging documents allege the ringleader – Jianxiong Chen – used a home in Braintree, Mass. to serve as a base of operations for the enterprise.
(Alleged base of mass marijuana drug trafficking operation in Braintree, Mass.)
The seven people charged are listed below:
- Jianxiong Chen, 39, of Braintree, Mass. also indicted on one count of money laundering conspiracy, 11 counts of money laundering and one count of bringing aliens into the United States;
- Yuxiong Wu, 36, of Weymouth, Mass. also indicted on one count of money laundering conspiracy and four counts of money laundering;
- Dinghui Li, 38, of Braintree, Mass. also indicted on one count of money laundering conspiracy and two counts of money laundering;
- Dechao Ma, 35, of Braintree, Mass. also indicted on one count of money laundering conspiracy and two counts of money laundering;
- Peng Lian Zhu, 35, of Melrose, Mass. also indicted on one count of money laundering conspiracy;
- Hongbin Wu, 35, of Quincy, Mass.; and
- Yanrong Zhu, 47, of Greenfield, Mass. and Brooklyn, N.Y.
Yanrong Zhu remains a fugitive.
