OKLAHOMA CITY – Eleven individuals, including eight Chinese nationals, were convicted in a black-market marijuana trafficking operation based in Ada with stash houses in Oklahoma City.
During a four-year investigation by Homeland Security Investigations, law enforcement officers seized approximately 3,500 pounds of marijuana and approximately 5,000 marijuana plants, along with $409,883 in U.S. currency, 10 vehicles, and 10 properties valued at $4.67 million, records reflect.
A federal grand jury here returned a 47-count indictment in July 2023 against Naiqing Lin, 37, a Chinese national living in New York, and several co-defendants, charging them for their roles in a major black-market marijuana drug trafficking organization (DTO).
According to public records, from January 2019 through May 10, 2023, co-conspirators Fei Xie, 36, and Naigang Lin, 38, operated as business partners who directed the DTO, of which Naiqing Lin worked as one of the marijuana distributors.
The DTO originally operated out of Michigan, where it specialized in the cultivation, brokering, and distribution of black-market marijuana across the country, and relied on a network of individuals, black-market marijuana grows, and stash houses for its operation.
In early 2022, after several law enforcement actions in Michigan, the DTO relocated to Oklahoma and established a black-market marijuana grow in Ada. Just as in Michigan, the DTO relied on a network of stash houses in Oklahoma City to store bulk amounts of marijuana prior to it being transported to customers out of state.
During the period of the conspiracy, the DTO used a variety of monetary instruments and financial transactions in an effort to launder their criminally derived proceeds, including wire transfers, funnel and straw bank accounts, vehicle purchases, and the purchase of cashier’s checks and real estate.
On August 23, 2024, after a three-day trial, a federal jury found both Naiqing and Xie guilty of drug conspiracy.
At the sentencing hearing on April 29, U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton sentenced Naiqing Lin to serve 37 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release. Heaton noted that Naiqing played an active role in what was a significant drug trafficking operation.
• Xie, of Kirkland, Washington, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for drug conspiracy.
• Naigang Lin, of Oklahoma City, was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for drug conspiracy and monetary transaction in criminally derived property.
“This criminal organization exploited Oklahoma to expand their illicit large-scale black-market marijuana and money laundering operation across the country,” said Oklahoma Western District U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester.
“This sentencing marks the end of a years-long investigation that dismantled a sophisticated black-market drug and money laundering operation,” said ICE Homeland Security Investigations Detroit acting Special Agent in Charge Jared Murphey. “HSI special agents, working closely with partners across multiple states, exposed an illicit network that exploited communities and abused financial systems to fuel their criminal enterprise.”
Other defendants in the case also have been sentenced.
• Naiyang Lin, 36, of Oklahoma City, was sentenced to serve 32 months in federal prison for drug conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy.
• Li Jin Yang, 60, a Chinese national living in Oklahoma City, was sentenced to six months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release for drug conspiracy.
• Chang-Hui Chen, 46, a Chinese national living in Michigan, was sentenced to 37 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, for drug conspiracy.
• Meiyan Xiao, 34, a Chinese national living in New York, was sentenced to 16 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for drug conspiracy.
• Daniel Walsh, 35, of Savannah, Georgia, was sentenced to four months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for drug conspiracy.
• Terrance Jamahl Allen, 43, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for drug conspiracy.
• Ahmed Salim Harrold, 46, of Wyoming, Michigan, was sentenced to 22 months in federal prison, followed by four years of supervised release, for drug conspiracy.
• Juan Lyu, 35, a Chinese national living in Oklahoma City, was sentenced to five years of supervised release for money laundering conspiracy.
The case was undertaken by Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations. It is also a part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force investigation.