More than 11,000 marijuana plants — worth $22.3M — seized in Georgia

What seemed like a fish plant in rural Georgia turned out to actually be a major marijuana manufacturing facility.

Georgia Department of Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper held a press conference last week where he announced that 11,153 marijuana plants in various stages of growth had been seized in Pierce County which has an estimated street value of about $22.3 million.

Harper said, about four weeks prior, the Pierce County Sheriff's Office contacted the department's law division to ask for assistance with their investigation into this plant. Pierce County Sheriff Ramsey Bennett explained that an undercover detective was informed that they were growing an edible food product, but the investigation showed something illegal was taking place.

Officers from the Department of Agriculture, members of the sheriff 's office and other officials executed a search warrant. What they discovered was the largest indoor-marijuana growing operation in Pierce County history.

Bennett said the property's electrical service records indicate this plant had been in operation since 2022. When asked about the pot's distribution, the sheriff said what they know so far is that members of the organization behind this plant have far-reaching ties from Staten Island in New York to the Houston area.

Four people were arrested during this bust: Chenhui Shu, Jinpeng Ma, Zhu Sheng Bing and Wei Sheng Deng. According to copies of their arrest reports, three are from Offerman in Pierce County while the fourth was from Brooklyn, NY. Bennett said they have been identified as Chinese nationals; three are in the U.S. legally but the fourth has a detainer from ICE which is given to someone who has been arrested on criminal charges and who ICE has probable cause to believe are removable non-citizens.

"This was a very sophisticated operation with hundreds-of-thousands of dollars in infrastructure," Harper said. "This is an ongoing investigation, the sheriff's office is leading the investigation and we're working cooperatively with them as we continue the investigation to find out more information related to this."

The sheriff's office has also contacted its federal partners. The full press release is available on agr.georgia.gov.