The owner of a large butane company pleaded guilty to a drug charge in San Diego Thursday, admitting his company illegally sold thousands of butane canisters to smoke shops, knowing that some of the butane would be used to illegally manufacture hash oil.
Bosco Kwon, owner of Los Angeles-based BK Power Imports, admitted that he knew the manufacture of hash oil, a marijuana concentrate, poses a significant risk of fires and explosions.
As part of his plea deal, Kwon, 53, agreed to forfeit more than $1 million and 94,152 canisters of butane. Sentencing is scheduled April 28 in U.S. District Court in San Diego.
According to admissions in Kwon’s plea agreement, BK Power Imports — the nation’s largest supplier of butane specifically designed for use in making hash oil — sold its butane to wholesalers and retailers in San Diego County and throughout the United States, including smoke shops “Greener Side of Life,” “Marry Jane House of Glass Inc,” Twilight Zone, “Smoke Tokes Inc,” “Puff and Stuff,” “Cali Kulture-Magic Glass,” and “The Grow Shop.”
The butane was sold under the brand names Power, Power 5x, Power 7x, Power 9x and Power 11x. Kwon imported more than 350,000 canisters of butane into the United States each month, authorities said.
During the manufacture of Butane Hash Oil, butane — a flammable gas that is odorless, colorless, and heavier than air — can evaporate out of the substance and collect on the floor, accumulating to explosive levels without proper ventilation. The process creates an invisible, but very real, risk of fires, explosions and chemical burns.
Since 2011, the manufacture of hash oil using Power butane has caused at least 54 fires and explosions, 29 serious injuries, and four deaths in California, Oregon, Nevada and Washington, according to Homeland Security Investigations agents.
In 2015, BK Power Imports and Kwon were sued because of an explosion and fire that occurred while two people made hash oil using Power butane.
–City News Service
