Sheriff: One arrested in Norridgewock after third bust in the last week of an illegal marijuana grow in Somerset County

Police discover more than 1,300 cannabis plants Wednesday during the search of a home on Betterment Road in Norridgewock. One man has been arrested. Photo courtesy of Somerset County Sheriff’s Office

NORRIDGEWOCK — Police arrested one person in connection with an illegal marijuana growing operation Wednesday, the third bust in the last week of similar operations in Somerset County.

Zunjie Wu, 26, of the Brooklyn borough of New York City, was arrested on class B charges of cultivation of marijuana and trafficking in scheduled drugs during the execution of a drug search warrant at a residence on Betterment Road in Norridgewock, according to Somerset County Sheriff Dale Lancaster.

Police also seized 1,310 marijuana plants, several pounds of harvested marijuana, and other illicit drug-related materials as a result of the investigation, which took place shortly before 9 a.m., Lancaster said.

Wu was being held at the Somerset County Jail in East Madison as of Wednesday evening, Lancaster said.

The Somerset County Sheriff’s Office executed search warrants at two other suspected illegal grows on Thursday and Friday, in Norridgewock and Mercer respectively, seizing thousands of plants. No arrests were made during those searches because nobody was present at the homes at the time, authorities said.

As in those busts, the Sheriff’s Office was assisted Wednesday by the Waterville Police Department, U.S. Border Patrol, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Maine Office of Cannabis Policy. The Sheriff’s Office obtained the search warrant after suspecting illegal cultivation activity at the property, Lancaster said.

“This search warrant is a continuation of our efforts to shut down illegal marijuana grow operations occurring in Somerset County,” Lancaster wrote in a statement.

Police have not said whether the suspected operations are connected.

The recent raids come as Maine’s congressional delegation last month urged federal officials to further investigate illegal marijuana growing operations that reportedly benefit Chinese investors. Police in recent weeks have made arrests in Kennebec, Somerset and Lincoln counties in connection with illegal grows.