Three Chinese Nationals Caught Sneaking Into Maine from Canada Amid Asian Organized Crime Epidemic - The Maine Wire
Three unidentified Chinese nationals were intercepted attempting to enter the U.S. illegally from Canada into Maine early Wednesday morning, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. A fourth Chinese national operating a motor vehicle was also arrested on suspicion of attempting to assist...
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Three Chinese Nationals Caught Sneaking Into Maine from Canada Amid Asian Organized Crime Epidemic
By Steve RobinsonFebruary 28, 2024Updated:February 28, 20245 Mins Read5K Views
Three unidentified Chinese nationals were intercepted attempting to enter the U.S. illegally from Canada into Maine early Wednesday morning, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
A fourth Chinese national operating a motor vehicle was also arrested on suspicion of attempting to assist with the three other Chinese nationals’ illegal entry into the U.S.
CBP posted the following information to social media:
“After noticing suspicious activity along the border, vigilant Fort Fairfield Border Patrol agents arrested three Chinese nationals attempting to use the cover of darkness to illegally enter the United States. A driver from New York, also a Chinese national who is already in immigration proceedings was also arrested and suspected of attempting to further the illegal entry.”
It was not immediately known whether the Chinese illegal aliens arrested at the border were connected to what the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has described as Asian Transnational Criminal Organizations.
[RELATED: Triad Weed: How Chinese Marijuana Grows Took Over Rural Maine…]
The Houlton Sector of CBP did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the arrests.
According to a leaked DHS memo, these criminal organizations operate more than 270 illicit marijuana cultivation and drug trafficking sites throughout Maine.
[RELATED: How the U.S. Treasury Department Helps Chinese Organized Crime Transform American Homes Into Drug Dens…]
The proceeds of those operations are then used to finance other illegal activities, including narcotics trafficking and human trafficking.
[RELATED: Triad Weed: One NYC Bank Financed More Than 50 Illicit Chinese Marijuana Grow Houses in Rural Maine…]
The attempted illegal crossing by the Chinese nationals comes as the U.S. is experiencing unprecedented levels of illegal immigration by Chinese nationals.
According to CBP data, Chinese nationals encountered entering the U.S. illegally increased from 2,000 per month in Oct. 2022 to 7,271 by Sept. 2023.
In FY 2023, a record 52,700 Chinese nationals were encountered attempting to illegally enter the U.S.
So far, in FY 2024, CBP officials have encountered 29,799 Chinese nationals.
Although the vast majority of those encounters have occurred on the southern border with Mexico, attempted crossing by Chinese illegal aliens are also increasing on the northern border.
In all of 2021, CBP encountered just 897 Chinese foreign nationals; however, 11,195 were encountered in FY 2023 and more than 4,200 have been encountered so far in FY 2024.
Last week, an Assistant Attorney General Risler testified to a state legislative committee that most of the illegally grown marijuana is trafficked out of the state, to New York and Massachusetts, while some is sold illegally in Maine.
The cannabis that these organizations attempt to sell illegally in Maine to licensed dispensaries has a reputation for inferior quality and is often suspected of being tainted with pesticides and fungicides, which legal Maine growers are not allowed to use.
Suspect cannabis from illegal Chinese growers is referred to in Maine’s cannabis community as “triad weed” — a reference to the infamous Chinese criminal families.
Beginning in September, the Maine Wire began identifying those properties, their owners, and their operators. Since that time, there have been more than two dozen raids on Chinese owned properties and several arrests of Asian men and women operating illegal marijuana grows on those properties.
Over the last six months, law enforcement agencies in Maine have conducted a series of raids across multiple locations, unveiling a sophisticated network of black market operations. The actions, taking place in Corinna, Guilford, Sangerville, Passadumkeag, Belgrade, China, Whitefield, Jefferson, Chelsea, Madison, Cornville, Mercer, and other rural communities have exposed a complex web of properties linked to illicit marijuana growing and trafficking, deeply embedded within the rural fabric of the state.
The properties, most of which were purchased by cash buyers from New York and Massachusetts since 2020, are typically found in rural areas where law enforcement resources are limited.
According to the Maine Wire’s investigation of Chinese organized crime in Maine, more than 80 of the properties involved in the scheme obtained mortgages through a New York bank that receives taxpayer funding from a U.S. Department of Treasury program.
This is a developing story and the Maine Wire will update this story as new information becomes available.
