Authorities shut down illegal marijuana-growing operation potentially worth millions in Atlantic County

Three people in Atlantic County have been charged with running an unlicensed marijuana production operation that used three houses to grow more than 4,000 plants that prosecutors said were potentially worth millions of dollars.

Hanzi Chen, 47; Suxia Li, 41; and Deng Huan Hong, 50, were arrested on Sept. 16 in Buena Borough and charged with first-degree possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, and first-degree maintaining a narcotics production facility, the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office announced Tuesday.

Their arrests came after a three-month investigation conducted by the New Jersey State Police Marijuana Eradication Team South, prosecutors said.

New Jersey State Police, along with police from two local departments, executed search warrants on the three houses in Buena, a town of about 4,500, and found the properties had been converted into “sophisticated marijuana grow sites” equipped with lighting, heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, growth nutrients, water supply, and grow space, prosecutors said.

The defendants lived at the houses and did not have licenses for medical or recreational cannabis businesses, prosecutors said.

The defendants were being held at the Atlantic County Justice Facility pending detention hearings scheduled for Wednesday.