Butane supplier linked to hash-oil industry

Bosco Kwon, owner of BK Power Imports of Los Angeles, pleaded guilty in San Diego today (February 9) to selling drug paraphernalia. Kwon admitted that his company sold thousands of butane canisters to smoke shops, knowing that some of the butane would be used to manufacture illegal hash oil.

Kwon admitted that he knew that hash oil, a marijuana concentrate, poses a significant risk of fires and explosions. Since 2011, the making of hash oil using power butane has caused at least 54 fires and explosions, 29 serious injuries, and 4 deaths in California, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington, according to Department of Homeland Security investigators.

Kwon must pay $1.03 million and give back 94,152 butane canisters. Sentencing is scheduled for 9 a.m. April 28 before federal judge Janis L. Sammartino.

BK Power Imports was the nation's largest supplier of butane designed for use in making hash oil. Hash oil is four times more potent than high-grade marijuana. It can be ingested as an oil, consumed in edibles, or solidified to make concentrated forms of cannabis known as "wax."