Web Of Illegal Marijuana Grows Tied To Chinese Communist Party Front Group 

A group of men charged with running an illegal marijuana farm in rural Maine have extensive ties to a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) organ responsible for intelligence gathering and foreign influence operations, a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation found.

Two of the men, who pleaded not guilty, are leaders of the Sijiu Association of New York, a Brooklyn-based nonprofit, which works closely with the New York Chinese Consulate and United Front Work Department (UFWD) — one of Beijing’s main influence and intelligence arms. Chinese government records reveal several Sijiu Association officials belong to UFWD branches, and state-run media reports show the nonprofit has also agreed to fund UFWD projects.

Chinese illegal marijuana grows in the Pine Tree State have taken root within former residential dwellings, recycling facilities, cedar mills, elementary schools and other industrial locations, according to investigative reports by the Maine Wire. Police raids have recovered hundreds of pounds of cultivated marijuana and thousands of cannabis plants within a single location, and sometimes have also led to the discovery of methamphetamines or banned neurotoxins used for fumigation.

“We’ve identified and visited more than 150 illegal Chinese marijuana growing operations throughout the state of Maine,” Steve Robinson, editor-in-chief of the Maine Wire, told the DCNF. “The neighbors are terrified, and legitimate marijuana businesses are collapsing due to the illegal competition.”

A Department of Homeland Security (DHS) memorandum first reported by the DCNF in August 2023 identified 270 suspected Chinese illegal marijuana grows across Maine. The DCNF was provided access to documents by a federal law enforcement source, who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly.

Ammon Blair, senior fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, told the DCNF that such operations “serve as cash cows for CCP-linked entities operating abroad who are otherwise limited in financial operations due to U.S. banking restrictions, sanctions, or scrutiny.”

“What makes the Maine example uniquely disturbing is the direct linkage of grow operations to CCP-tied civic associations in New York — specifically those operating under the umbrella of the UFWD,” said Blair, a former Border Patrol Agent and Army veteran. “This fusion of transnational organized crime, political warfare infrastructure, and ideological alignment suggests these operations may be dual-use: criminal on the surface, but strategic in effect.”

Yet, to be sure, law enforcement have not implicated the Sijiu Association itself, which could not be reached for comment.

‘The Boss’

Police arrested two Sijiu Association members during a 2023 raid of a Maine property linked to a network of illegal marijuana grow operations, according to a DCNF review of police records, Chinese state media reports and investigations conducted by the Maine Wire.

In October 2022, the manager of Carmel, Maine, a town located roughly 20 miles west of Bangor, filed a complaint with the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office “reporting he suspected illegal marijuana grows taking place at 3 separate residences,” the police report states.

When law enforcement raided the home on June 29, 2023, they discovered 3,455 cannabis plants and 111 pounds of processed marijuana, according to the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office. Police also arrested four Chinese men, including Huang Weizhan, 64, who allegedly told authorities during questioning he was “the boss.”

Huang Weizhan is also the “executive chairman” of the Sijiu Association, the DCNF determined by matching his mugshot and name with footage from the organization’s events, Chinese state media photos and reports.

A list of the Siju Association’s founding members and donors also indicate Huang Weizhan contributed $3,000 to help establish the nonprofit.

Huang Yongchao, 53, who was also arrested during the raid, donated $200 to the Sijiu Association, according to the same list. Footage from the Sijiu Association’s March 2022 inaugural banquet shows Huang Weizhan and Huang Yongchao together during the event’s opening ceremony, dinner and later on stage singing karaoke.

During questioning, Huang Weizhan admitted that “close to the interstate” between exit 130 and exit 244 “all the Chinese people are growing marijuana,” according to the police report. Huang Weizhan admitted selling marijuana and said buyers had been “arranged through a friend” named “Rong,” before ominously adding he would “be dead” because he’d borrowed money from a “relative/friend,” the police report states.

Prosecutors charged all four men with illegal cultivation of marijuana, to which they pleaded not guilty, according to the report. Shortly after their arrests, all the men were bailed out of prison and their cases continue to move through the court.

Huang Weizhan declined to comment through his attorney, William H. Ashe, and Huang Yongchao’s attorney, Jeffrey M. Silverstein, did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Sheriff Troy Morton of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office told the DCNF that although he could not comment on the Carmel raid’s “impact on current and future active investigations,” he said they had “conducted several other search warrants on similar residences.”

“This is a sufficient public health and safety issue beyond the cultivation of marijuana,” Morton said. “Our office along with other Sheriff’s Offices in the State of Maine will remain steadfast in investigating this criminal activity.”

[Image created by DCNF with Douyin account “夢&^o^之藍” screenshot and Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office mugshots]

‘Illicit Marijuana’

The Sijiu Association’s apparent ties to illegal marijuana grows were first reported by the Maine Wire in May 2024 while investigating a residence in the town of Dexter. At the “seemingly abandoned property on Highland Avenue that once operated as an illicit marijuana cultivation site,” the Maine Wire photographed a “BMW containing t-shirts affiliated with the Sijiu Association.”

“The BMW caught my eye because it was the nicest vehicle we’d ever seen at an abandoned grow, and the t-shirts were kind of unusual,” Robison, editor-in-chief of the Maine Wire told the DCNF.

Robinson said he grew up near the Highland Avenue home and was thus “very familiar” with it.

“Neighbors confirmed our suspicions that it was an illegal marijuana grow,” Robinson said.

“After the house was purchased, the new owners did a substantial amount of concrete work inside, likely building large cisterns where water and growing chemicals are mixed prior to being pumped to plants,” Robinson said. “It does not appear that anyone ever lived at the house. Instead, they lived in nearby flop houses or at other grows.”

However, no arrests appear to have been made in connection with the Highland Avenue property, according to the Maine Wire and a DCNF review of local police reports.

OCP did not respond to multiple requests for comment and the town of Carmel declined to comment.

[Image created by DCNF with Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office photo, WMTW screenshot, and photos courtesy of the Maine Wire]

‘Overseas Chinese Work’

The Sijiu Association and its leaders have extensive ties to the Chinese government and the United Front Work Department (UFWD), according to Chinese government and state media reports.

The UFWD’s operations are a “unique blend of engagement, influence activities, and intelligence operations that the [CCP] uses to shape its political environment, including to influence other countries’ policy toward the [People’s Republic of China],” according to a memo published by the House Select Committee on the CCP.

Among other ties, a UFWD organization called the China Overseas Friendship Association (COFA) has identified at least three Sijiu Association officials as “directors,” including one individual who shook hands with Xi Jinping during COFA’s September 2019 conference in Beijing, Chinese state media footage shows. COFA operates as “an important platform through which the UFWD co-opts and interacts with overseas United Front figures,” according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC).

On an organizational level, the Sijiu Association has also cooperated with the New York Chinese Consulate and the UFWD on multiple occasions.

In one instance, the Sijiu Association chairman met with New York Chinese Consulate and UFWD personnel in December 2022 to discuss cooperation on “overseas Chinese work,” according to New York-based Chinese-language news outlet CompactNews.

“The goal of ‘overseas Chinese work’ is to use ethnic, cultural, economic, or political ties to mobilize sympathetic overseas Chinese communities — ideally of their own accord — to advocate for the interests of the CCP and marginalize its opponents,” according to USCC.

“The CCP often operates through layered deniability and compartmentalized / decentralized missions where the intent is understood — even if the order is not spoken,” said Blair. “Thus, while the consulate or UFWD may not say ‘go grow weed,’ they do cultivate plausibly deniable networks with known ties to criminal enterprises, and reward those networks’ loyalty and utility to Party objectives.”

In another instance, the Sijiu Association chairman remotely participated in an October 2024 UFWD event in Jiangmen, Guangdong province, during which he signed an agreement with a UFWD “subordinate unit” called the All-China Federation Of Industry And Commerce (ACFIC) to fund a CCP investment initiative in southern China called the “Hundred, Thousand, and Ten Thousand Project.”

The “Hundred, Thousand, and Ten Thousand Project” was the driving force behind an April 2024 fair in Sijiu, Taishan several months before the October 2024 UFWD investment ceremony, Chinese state media reported.

Out on bail, Huang Weizhan reportedly returned to China for the first time in five years and attended that April 2024 Sijiu fair, during which he was interviewed by Chinese state media.

“Sijiu’s transportation is becoming increasingly convenient, and its rustic scenery is constantly improving, making it a veritable paradise for development,” Huang Weizhan reportedly said, according to a DCNF translation. After returning to the U.S., Huang Weizhan said he would “recommend [Sijiu] to his overseas friends and family, and encourage more overseas compatriots to return to invest and start businesses.”

“By controlling illicit revenue streams, Sijiu Association leaders could wield influence over Chinese-American communities in New York, aligning them with CCP narratives,” Blair told the DCNF. “The association’s consulate ties and UFWD agreement position it to channel grow profits into influence operations, such as funding pro-CCP media or political contributions, as seen in other UFWD cases.”