Task force raids Chinese-run grows across Grays Harbor and seizes 32,449 plants
A task force led by Grays Harbor County executed 50 search warrants across three Washington counties, arresting 44 people and seizing 32,449 marijuana plants worth an estimated $80 million from homes bought with cash by an organised Chinese operation.
🇺🇸 Grays Harbor County, Washington · Washington, United States
A team of more than two dozen agencies led by the Grays Harbor County Drug Task Force began executing 50 search warrants on Tuesday 28 November 2017 across Grays Harbor, Thurston and King counties against suspected Chinese-run marijuana grows.[1][2]The raids netted 44 arrests, 26 confiscated vehicles, guns, and 32,449 marijuana plants that the sheriff’s office valued at more than $80 million.[1][2]Investigators also found more than $400,000 in cash and gold, and say the inquiry began after residents reported grows in Elma, Aberdeen and Hoquiam.[1][2]
The sheriff’s office believes people tied to organised crime bought homes mostly with cash and flipped them into grows, and the sheriff said many of the workers were brought from China under false pretences and held as indentured labour.[1][2][3]Fifty Chinese nationals were later arraigned over the network, with the court communicating through Google Translate at first.[3]
Photos and video
Seized marijuana plants taken from a Central Park grow before destruction; courtesy photograph of the Grays Harbor County Sheriff's OfficePhoto details
CHP's warrant service team searched a home in the 400 block of Bear Canyon Road northwest of Garberville on 9 November 2026 as part of a multi-agency narcotics investigation involving the DEA, HSI and FBI. The CHP said it did not lead the probe and would not confirm the target, the material officers shovelled, or any arrests.
North Port police arrested Nicholas Eddy, 29, and Jessica Trach, 28, after their Special Investigations Unit searched a home on Narcissus Terrace and found marijuana packaged for sale along with cocaine, suspected LSD, steroids and pills. Both were accused of drug possession for sale, running a drug house and possessing drug paraphernalia.
Lexington town police and state and federal partners searched five vape and hemp shops on 5 November 2026 in an undercover investigation into sales of illicit narcotics and drug paraphernalia. A shop owner says officers emptied cases, seized her phone and more than $3,300 in cash, and she plans to sue; no arrests were reported.
Four agencies served simultaneous search warrants at two Quincy addresses on 5 November 2026 in a drug-trafficking investigation, and police announced probable cause to arrest two men, one of them on a cannabis sale allegation. No drug quantities were disclosed and police did not confirm either man was in custody.
