By Kevin Hendricks
Multiple federal law enforcement agencies, along with state and local police, raided at least two cannabis greenhouse operations near Estancia.
Agents and officers from the FBI, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, New Mexico State Police and the Torrance County Sheriff’s Department arrived en masse at the facilities near Estancia earlier this morning.
By late morning, dozens of federal agents and officers with the New Mexico State Police were piling large amounts of marijuana into dump trucks, which hauled it away to an undisclosed location.
“I can confirm the FBI, along with our partners, are currently conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity,” FBI Public Affairs Officer Margot Cravens told The Independent News. “Due to the ongoing nature of this investigation, I am not able to provide any additional details at this time.”
While officials declined to provide specific details, multiple people were detained in handcuffs outside the Nihooka Dine Earthly People Church operation near Estancia. Dineh Benally operates the farm.
It was a similar scene at another facility connected to Benally at 31 La Trencherita Road, where law enforcement officers were seen disposing of marijuana plants. The owner of that facility confirmed it is also leased by Benally.
State regulators with the Cannabis Control Division previously cited an operation at or near the Nihooka Dine location for growing cannabis without a license. Benally, the self-described operator, later sued the state claiming his operation is exempt from regulation because he operates as a Native American church.
FBI Special Agent in Charge Raul Bujanda confirmed to The Independent News that the Torrance County Sheriff’s Office worked with the FBI on the investigation into the locations, which has been ongoing “for months.”
“This has been a problem that was brought to us by the great citizens of this city here, and we wanted to make sure we did something,” Bujanda said. “Torrance County reached out and we responded.”
Benally has had issues with the Cannabis Control Division for years.
Last January, the Native American Agricultural Development Company, south of Estancia, was cited for eight violations, including growing almost 40,000 more marijuana plants than was permitted by the state.
Benally, who ran for state senator in 2020, was under federal investigation the same year for an illegal cannabis growing operation on Navajo land near Shiprock. Benally, who twice ran for Navajo Nation president, has been sued by Chinese immigrant workers, alleging forced labor.
In an interview with Searchlight NM in March 2024, Benally alluded to a sovereign right to grow cannabis, which he says is a religious sacrament for Native people.
“This is an ancestral plant,” Benally said. “This plant belongs to us as Native people. We as Native Americans, when we’re born, we’re entitled to this land…Anything that grows, that belongs to the Native American.”
Check back with The Independent for updates throughout the day.
