Oklahoma narcotics agents raided a Chinese seafood restaurant in Oklahoma City as part of an organized-crime investigation, seizing “trafficking amounts” of methamphetamine, ketamine, and ecstasy, as well as a firearm, according to the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Control (OBN).
OBN said its Marijuana Enforcement Teams and Human Trafficking Unit served a search warrant at Lucky Zhang Seafood Restaurant in Oklahoma City around 12:30 a.m. on May 29.
The agency said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took 16 people into custody during the operation. OBN did not publicly identify them or state whether any had been criminally charged.
“This investigation includes black-market marijuana trafficking from grow operations around the state linked to people associated with the Lucky Zhang restaurant,” OBN spokesman Mark Woodward said in the agency’s statement.
“We are also investigating ties to other elements of organized crime including human trafficking and money laundering,” Woodward said.
OBN said additional arrests are anticipated as the investigation continues.
The agency said certified victim-service providers were on site to interview several potential victims of human trafficking. OBN Director Donnie Anderson thanked the agency’s law-enforcement partners and The Spring, a certified shelter in Tulsa, for helping ensure that any human-trafficking victims at the location would be assisted.
The agency said people can anonymously report suspected drug or human trafficking and access recovery-assistance services through OBN’s You Are Not Alone human-trafficking resources page.
Human Trafficking Suspected
Oklahoma Secretary of State records list Lucky Zhang LLC as a domestic limited liability company with Ling Chen listed as registered agent.
The same state filing lists Lucky Zhang Seafood Restaurant as a trade name. The trade name is listed as withdrawn, and the LLC status is listed as expired.
Those records identify Chen as the registered agent for the LLC tied to the restaurant name.
A 2024 investigation by ProPublica, The Frontier, and the Pulitzer Center reported that Ling Chen, Ke Xiang Chen, and Junli Zhang managed or had an ownership interest in Lucky Zhang’s, citing court documents and public records.
The investigation described Lucky Zhang’s as a restaurant and nightclub near the American Fujian Association on Classen Boulevard, with high-tech lighting and individual karaoke rooms. It said detectives focused on the club as a suspected human-trafficking site after learning that young Asian women living at a house were being regularly transported to Lucky Zhang’s and spending the night there, according to court documents cited by the investigation.
Prior Drug Cases
Oklahoma County court records show Ling Chen, 41, pleaded guilty in June 2023 to maintaining a place for keeping or selling controlled drugs. The court deferred sentencing until June 2027 and ordered supervision through the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, with probation to be transferred to New York.
The case, State of Oklahoma v. Ling Chen and Allen Xin Bin Lin, was filed after a November 2022 incident. Court records show Chen was charged in February 2023 in Oklahoma County District Court.
In the same case, Allen Xin Bin Lin, 50, pleaded guilty in April 2024 after a ketamine distribution count was amended to misdemeanor simple possession. A separate count accusing Lin of acquiring proceeds from drug activity was dismissed at the request of the state, according to the court docket.
In a separate Oklahoma County felony case, State of Oklahoma v. Ke Xiang Chen, Ke Xiang Chen, 58, pleaded guilty in May 2024 to unlawful possession of the synthetic drug MDMA with intent to distribute, and acquiring proceeds from drug activity. The court deferred sentencing for seven years and ordered supervision through Oklahoma Probation Services.
Public court records reviewed by The Epoch Times do not show that Ling Chen, Allen Xin Bin Lin, Ke Xiang Chen, or Junli Zhang has been charged in connection with OBN’s May 2026 raid.
Fujianese Association, Chinese Diplomat Visits
The restaurant’s prior history appeared in the 2024 investigation by ProPublica, The Frontier, and the Pulitzer Center into contacts between Chinese officials and Oklahoma community leaders whose names had appeared in criminal investigations or court records.
The investigation reported that Zhu Di, a senior Chinese diplomat in the United States, visited the American Fujian Association in Oklahoma City after a November 2022 quadruple murder at an illegal marijuana farm and returned for another visit in June 2023. The meetings took place at the association’s local branch on Classen Boulevard, near Lucky Zhang’s, according to the investigation.
A June 2023 Chinese-language report on 52hrtt.com, a Fuzhou-based Chinese overseas-news platform, said Zhu visited the Oklahoma Fujian Association on June 10, 2023, to learn about the work and living conditions of Chinese farm operators in the area. The report identified Zhang Junli as chairman of the association and said Zhu heard Zhang’s work report during the visit.
The Chinese-language report said Zhang, in welcoming remarks, thanked Zhu for multiple visits to Oklahoma after the previous year’s shooting at a Chinese-run farm that left four dead and one injured. The report also said Zhu met with Pan Muyong, chairman of the American Fujian Sanshan Association.
The ProPublica/The Frontier/Pulitzer Center investigation reported that several people photographed with Zhu had pleaded guilty, been charged, or been investigated in drug-related matters, citing court documents, public records, photos, and social media posts. It also reported that law enforcement agencies had investigated the American Fujian Association’s headquarters as a suspected illegal casino and hub of other illicit activity, citing court records and senior officials.
Marijuana Enforcement Context
The Lucky Zhang raid came as Oklahoma authorities continued targeting illegal marijuana operations and related organized-crime networks.
In February, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond announced Operation Blunt Force, which he said dismantled a criminal enterprise that exploited Oklahoma’s medical-marijuana system through fraudulent licensing and black-market distribution. Drummond’s office said the investigation led to 20 arrests and involved financial transactions connected to Oklahoma, multiple other states, and China.
In April, federal authorities announced a 51-defendant indictment in a nationwide black-market marijuana case based in Oklahoma. The Drug Enforcement Administration said the investigation resulted in the seizure of about 61,000 marijuana plants and 550 kilograms of processed marijuana.
The DEA said at least 29 of the defendants were from China, some of whom had permanent legal resident status. The indictment alleged a network of marijuana grow owners, brokers, transporters, and distributors worked together from March 2025 through April 2026 to move black-market marijuana within Oklahoma and across the United States.
The May 29 Lucky Zhang raid has not been publicly tied by prosecutors to either Operation Blunt Force or the 51-defendant federal case.
OBN said the Oklahoma City Police Department, Oklahoma Highway Patrol, ICE, the FBI, and victim-service providers assisted in the Lucky Zhang operation.
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