Now
63°
Mon
61°
Tue
87°
by WGME Staff
Senator Susan Collins is urging the FBI to do more to fight illegal marijuana grows in Maine.
On Capitol Hill Tuesday, she asked FBI Director Kash Patel about the FBI’s response.
Patel says the criminals have either cut off ties or done a good job covering their tracks sending money back to China. He says the FBI is tracing their banking records.
“What we’re not seeing yet is the money directly being shipped back over to mainland China and the CCP from these grow house operations," Patel said.
"I would encourage you to even increase your efforts even more because this remains a huge problem in Maine despite the valiant efforts of our sheriffs and local law enforcement," Collins said.
Collins says in 2023, a DHS memo showed Maine had about 270 Chinese-backed illegal marijuana operations, producing about $4.3 billion in drug money.
She says since then, Maine law enforcement has done the bulk of the work, seizing thousands of pounds of illegally grown marijuana.
2026 Sinclair, Inc.