Federal charges for massive illegal cannabis grow on Navajo Nation land

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A federal grand jury has indicted three men for allegedly running a massive illegal cannabis operation involving Chinese immigrant workers on Navajo Nation land in New Mexico.

The federal charges against Dineh Benally, his father, Donald Benally, and California resident Irving Rea Yui Lin stem from a 2020 raid on a network of 1,100 greenhouses on 25 farms they allegedly operated near Shiprock.

Benally and a second man not identified in the Jan. 22 indictment also face separate charges filed last year by Navajo Nation law enforcement.

Cannabis cultivation is illegal in the Navajo Nation.

According to the federal indictment, the three men solicited cash from Chinese investors and recruited Chinese immigrant workers to tend and process tens of thousands of pounds of cannabis that was later shipped out of state.

To evade the law, they allegedly passed the operation off as federally legal hemp and tried to bribe a Navajo Nation police chief, according to the indictment.

Navajo Nation police discovered the immigrant workers transporting the marijuana off the farms for distribution, the indictment alleges.

A raid last week at a defendant’s home and two farms east of Albuquerque turned up 8,500 pounds of cannabis, methamphetamine, two guns, $35,000 in cash and illegal pesticides, according to the Associated Press.

In addition to drug trafficking charges, Dineh Benally faces charges for violating federal environmental laws.

Separately, Benally and Lin, a Taiwanese businessman based in Los Angeles, were sued in state court in 2023 by their former workers, who alleged they were lured to work at the farms under false pretenses, the Associated Press reported.

Hired laborers were forced to work 14 hours a day and were treated like prisoners by grow security guards, the lawsuit alleges.

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