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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — State police have destroyed tens of 1000’s of kilos of marijuana crops at greenhouses in northwestern New Mexico, marking what regulators say is the biggest seizure and destruction of hashish in New Mexico since new possession and cultivation legal guidelines took impact in 2021.
Authorities introduced the operation Monday, saying dozens of brokers have been assigned to eradicate the crops in October. The state Hashish Management Division had began the method of revoking the license of NNK Fairness LLC, having filed a noncompliance order and a default order earlier this 12 months.
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The corporate was accused of not posting its licenses on website, failing to acquire water rights for cultivation, not having cameras that might monitor sure areas of its operation and violating sanitation and well being necessities.
“The group concerned confirmed a blatant disregard for the legal guidelines of this state and we are going to show that after this investigation is over,” New Mexico State Police Chief Troy Weisler stated in a press release.
Jacob Candelaria, an Albuquerque legal professional who represents NNK Fairness, disputed the state’s claims and accused regulators and state police of violating his shopper’s civil rights. He stated the state didn’t correctly serve discover of its intent to revoke the corporate’s license and subsequently denied a request for a listening to on the deserves of the case.
He stated purchasers Irving Lin and Bao Xue converse Mandarin Chinese language and have restricted means to know the written English language. Lin requested for a Chinese language translation, however the legal professional stated regulators didn’t reply to his request.
The Hashish Management Division said in filings associated to the case that it complied with discover and listening to necessities and had afforded the corporate its due course of rights.
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The corporate plans to ask a state district decide to put aside the order revoking the license and to order state regulators to carry a listening to, Candelaria stated. He added that NNK Fairness additionally plans to sue the state for destroying what he stated amounted to tons of of 1000’s of {dollars} of personal property.
“The concept that regulation enforcement officers can destroy public property primarily based upon a brief restraining order — which will be entered with out discover to all events and earlier than a listening to on the proof — which was the case right here, ought to concern all of us who consider within the Structure.”
In response to state regulators, NNK Fairness was issued a license in December 2023 for a marijuana rising operation at a property in Waterflow, a rural space on the sting of the Navajo Nation and simply south of the Colorado border. The area additionally made headlines earlier this 12 months when state regulators cracked down on two different operations and Navajo Nation authorities ended up submitting their very own prices in opposition to two tribal members.
Within the newest case, the Hashish Management Division performed a compliance test in June and decided that NNK Fairness had exceeded its allotted plant depend. The New Mexico State Police Particular Investigations Unit was introduced in and later discovered crops at a second location that was not licensed.
The violations outlined by state regulators additionally contain transportation and monitoring necessities, which embody assigning figuring out numbers to every plant.
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