OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. (KOKH) — On Wednesday, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs provided new insight into the state of illegal drug activity in Oklahoma.
Federal officials announced that 47-year-old Jeff Weng of China and Brooklyn, New York was sentenced to ten years behind bars for drug trafficking on Monday.
The OBN assisted the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the probe.
Weng and his 29-year-old co-defendant Tong Lin were found guilty of drug trafficking charges in Jan. 2024.
Lin received the same sentence in June of last year.
Weng and Lin will have an additional five years of supervised release after their ten years in federal prison.
According to the Department of Justice, the two ran a licensed grow operation in Wetumka and used disguised delivery vehicles, including a fake Amazon van, to traffic marijuana from Wetumka to an Oklahoma City warehouse.
Officials shared that over seven months, Weng and Lin trafficked upwards of 56,000 pounds of marijuana out of Oklahoma using a semi-truck.
“Evidence also showed that law enforcement searched the Wetumka Grow in May 2023 and located 19,661 marijuana plants in various stages of growth, more than $100,000 of vacuum-sealed cash hidden in Weng’s closet attic space, and a firearm,” officials shared.
Mark Woodward, spokesman for the state bureau of narcotics, noted “The late-night talk shows [were] talking about you know, ‘Toklahoma’ and the Wild West of Weed. But since 2022, we’ve identified these criminal organizations, put ’em under a microscope.”
State officials have also ramped up enforcement efforts, according to Woodward.
He said the medical marijuana industry ballooned in Oklahoma during the pandemic, leading transnational criminal organizations to establish a foothold in the state.
Officials explained that such illegal activity has been linked to activities such as murders and theft to labor and sex trafficking.
“We went from about 3,000 farms to nearly 9,400 farms between 2020 and 2022,” Woodward added.
From 2022 to the end of 2024, the state saw the number of farms cut from 9,400 to 2,400, Woodward shared.
While criminal elements remain, OBN said that reigning in the medical marijuana industry has allowed officials to address other concerns too, like human trafficking and more drug enforcement efforts around fentanyl and xylazine.
“We’ve really flipped the script on the criminal organizations,” Woodward asserted.
He stressed that prescription drug overdoses are also a major concern for officials. Members of the public can drop their unneeded scripts at almost 200 locations around the state to help keep their families safe.
On Wednesday, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs provided new insight into the state of illegal drug activity in Oklahoma.Federal officials an Read More
