FAIRFIELD — Federal agents were investigating a medical cannabis shop Wednesday that has previously been tied to Chinese organized crime groups.

About a dozen unmarked cruisers were on scene as several agents appeared to be executing a search warrant at the business at 201 Norridgewock Road, also known as Route 104.

The Fairfield business’s signs say only “Medical Cannabis.” The business is technically called Y&Z Grow and was formerly known as Yezi Craft Cannabis, according to town tax records and filings with the Maine Office of Cannabis Policy.

Agents were seen outside speaking with three or four people who came out of the shop. At least two were taken into handcuffs and taken away in an unmarked vehicle.

It was not clear which agency was in charge of the investigation, as agents were in plain clothes, but it appeared the FBI was in charge. At least one official wore a vest that indicated he was with the FBI.

Fairfield police Capt. Paul St. Amand, who was on scene, said the FBI notified the town police department of the investigation. He said he was there only to assist with scene security and had no further details.

“The FBI was on scene conducting court authorized activity,” Kristen Setera, a spokesperson for the FBI Boston field office, said via email. “Beyond that, we’re going to decline further comment at this time.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Lizotte, a spokesperson for the office of Maine U.S. Attorney Andrew Benson, said federal prosecutors were unable to comment Wednesday afternoon.

Chief Deputy Mike Mitchell of the Somerset County Sheriff’s Office, which executed two dozen search warrants at illegal marijuana growing operations in 2024 and 2025, said his agency was not involved in Wednesday’s law enforcement activity.

Y&Z Grow is a licensed medical cannabis dispensary that was established in 2023, according to filings with the secretary of state’s office and the Maine Office of Cannabis Policy.

An investigation by the Portland Press Herald last year found Y&Z Grow’s owners were allegedly tied to a web of legal and illegal cannabis growers that police say are associated with Chinese organized crime groups, which have taken a growing foothold in Maine’s cannabis market as they transition illicit grows into the state’s legal markets.

Inspections by the Office of Cannabis Policy in 2022 found the Fairfield facility, then known as Yezi Craft Cannabis, was storing weed in trash bags, employing unlicensed growers and not keeping track of its sales. Yezi was raided and shut down by police later that year.

The dispensary’s owner told investigators he had been doing business with what regulators later described as an “organized criminal enterprise” run by out-of-state Chinese growers.

Several of Yezi’s owners, managers and investors helped establish Y&Z Grow following the police raid.

Federal and local officials have said there are hundreds of similar illegal growing operations in Maine connected to Chinese organized crime.

St. Amand said he was told that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was not the agency leading the investigation. Several people stopped at the shop Wednesday midday to ask if the agents were with ICE. Others were customers looking to see if the business was open.

ICE has had an increased presence in Maine in recent days. An ICE official said in an interview on Fox News that officers had identified more than 1,000 targets in Maine and made 50 arrests Tuesday. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which includes ICE, has dubbed the effort “Operation Catch of the Day,” according to a statement issued Wednesday.

Sam Allen and his wife, who declined to give her name, have lived in the house next door to where authorities were investigating for 36 years and were not sure what exactly drew investigators to the shop.

Allen said many people who work at the business do not speak English, but those who do have always been nice to him. In one instance, Allen said, a man helped him move his mailbox.

“I try to keep my nose out of their business,” he said, while sitting inside his home.

Allen’s wife said she remembered when police raided the shop several years ago and believed that it is now under different ownership.

Aside from the odor of marijuana in the area, which the two said they now notice only when guests comment on it, they said they have had no major issues with the shop and people who run it.

“They try to be good neighbors,” Allen’s wife said. “That’s all we know about them.”