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HARMONY, Maine (WMTW) -- Police continue to crack down on large-scale illegal marijuana growing operations in Maine.
Since January 2024, the Somerset County Sheriff's Office alone has executed 24 search warrants related to illegal grows in 10 different towns and arrested 15 people.
As a result of those busts, the department has seized approximately 30,000 marijuana plants, about 500 pounds of processed marijuana, around $51,000 in cash and six vehicles.
These are just the busts in Somerset County and that number does not include dozens of other busts in Maine over the last 16 months.
The most recent marijuana bust in Somerset County was on April 1 at a home on South Road in Harmony that police have searched and seized drugs from before. Police went to the home at about 9 a.m. with a drug search warrant.
Police arrested two men from Massachusetts at the home after finding nearly the entire inside of the home was being used to illegally grow marijuana.
When police searched the home, they say they found 1,405 growing marijuana plants, approximately 100 pounds of processed marijuana, a 9mm pistol, ammunition and $1,600 cash believed to be from illegal drug sales.
Wenfeng Chen, 51, of Malden, Massachusetts, and Xinwen Zhang, 71, of Boston, were arrested and charged with cultivation of marijuana and unlawful trafficking in scheduled drugs. The cultivation and trafficking charges are elevated due to over 500 marijuana plants being cultivated and over 20 pounds of marijuana being possessed. Bail for both was set at $10,000 cash and both men are due in court on July 9, 2025.
In May of 2024 the Sheriff’s Office seized over 1,200 marijuana plants from the same home, along with approximately 25 pounds of processed marijuana. No one was home at the time of that drug raid.
Police said there may be more charges forthcoming against Wenfeng Chen, Xinwen Zhang and others relating to both search warrants, once the cases are reviewed by the Somerset County District Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
