The arrest operation went smoothly, and all eight individuals involved in the case were apprehended.

However, this was just the beginning of the investigation. Political Commissioner Zhou and Wang Changjiang could not escort the suspects back yet; they had to conduct a night search on the involved companies for seals, contracts, accounts, and import/export documents, collecting and securing evidence.

At the same time, they had to organize forces to search the homes of the eight involved individuals overnight to prevent their relatives from transferring illegal gains.

Tomorrow morning, they also needed to go to the bank to freeze the accounts of the involved company and individuals.

In the same vein, Han Yu in East Sea was busy too, needing to make records overnight with the relevant personnel, collecting and securing evidence of the company's import/export declarations at East Sea Customs.

At daybreak, they needed to contact and request experts from the East Sea Electronics Research Institute to assess the props used by the involved company for tax fraud, determining what kind of equipment the "tax fraud props" were, their purpose, and their actual value.

Once these tasks were completed, they needed to arrange for a large flatbed truck to transport the "tax fraud props" along with the containers back to Binjiang, storing them in a customs-supervised yard.

As the Smuggling Crime Investigation Branch is a newly established unit without pre-examination experts, Li Weiguo was invited to join the task force. Jiang Xiaojun was responsible for guiding investigators in evidence collection, while Li Weiguo guided legal police in evidence review. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

In the midst of the branch police's hectic activities, Chen Zikun, Xiao Yu, and other Changhang Police, under the guidance of Jia Yongqiang and the former commander of the Dongqi City Police Bureau Criminal Police Unit, Wu Minde, successfully apprehended a ship owner who was smuggling "Red Oil," seizing about twelve tons of "Red Oil" from the fuel tanks of his inland river cargo ship.

According to regulations, any smuggling case in Binjiang must be handed over to the Smuggling Crime Investigation Branch. However, everyone in the branch was busy with major cases, and they couldn't spare any investigators to take over.

As soon as Han Yu received the call, he requested veterans Old Jia and Old Wu to guide Xu Haoran in investigating, and if manpower was insufficient, continued to request assistance from the Changhang Bureau or Water Police Station.

Comrade Old Jia also believed that Xu Haoran needed an opportunity to take charge and accompanied Xu Haoran for an interrogation.

"Li Dawei, keep in mind, our policy is leniency to those who confess, severity to those who resist!"

Xu Haoran pointed at the slogan on the wall and reminded the ship owner, "Where exactly did the 'Red Oil' come from? If you don't explain, your crew will. Once the crew talks, you'll be in a passive position."

The ship owner, in his fifties, with a dark face and forehead full of wrinkles, appeared like an elderly man in his sixties or seventies.

Before transferring to the Water Police Station, Jia Yongqiang worked at a police station by the river and was familiar with the situation of shipmen, knowing well that earning from shipping was not easy. He offered a cigarette and advised earnestly.

"Li Dawei, I know you are a man of loyalty, but loyalty must be considered against the circumstances and to whom it is given. You have family responsibilities, with an elderly parent and children. Your eldest and second sons have started their careers, but your youngest isn't married yet. You are the pillar of your family. If you end up in prison for this, what will happen to your family?"

"..."

The ship owner looked up at the two men, hesitating to speak.

Seeing that his attitude had softened, Xu Haoran seized the moment to say, "From what we know, you only purchased and used the 'Red Oil.' Although you resold some to your fellow townsman, you didn't profit from it, just helped them out. If you cooperate, we can give a lighter punishment."

The ship owner lowered his head and remained silent.

Jia Yongqiang realized that the person who sold the oil was no ordinary oil dealer, or had an unusual relationship with the ship owner. Checking the time on his phone, he reminded, "Li Dawei, you are running a large ship, not a small one. If you don't heed advice or cooperate with the investigation, we can afford to wait you out.

We have time, but can you afford it? Think about it, your ship's being temporarily detained, and the anchorage fees at the riverbank cost a lot each day! You're fifty-something, you should be able to figure this out, don't get into financial trouble or trouble yourself!"

"Don't want to speak, huh? If you don't want to talk, forget it! I'll just send you to detention to think it over!" Xu Haoran was surprised at the ship owner's non-cooperation, slamming the desk as he stood up.

The ship owner was startled and hesitated before grimacing, "I'll speak, I'll confess."

"That's more like it. Go ahead."

"The oil... the oil was brought to me by my nephew."

"What's your nephew's name?"

"Gu Feng."

"Is he your biological nephew?"

"Yes."

"How old is he this year?"

"Thirty-two."

"What does he do?"

"He also works in shipping; he's an ocean liner crew member."

...

At nine in the morning, Han Yu accompanied the experts from the research institute contacted yesterday to open and examine the "tax fraud props."

In total, four experts came, two middle-aged men and two young men.

They brought along several pieces of equipment, but didn't get to use any of them.

As Guo Weitao and Xiao Gong carefully took the "tax fraud props" out of the wooden box, one of the experts recognized them as a set of medical testing equipment.

Most of the accompanying instruments were also medical testing devices.

Domestically, they might be barely considered "advanced," but abroad, they were already outdated, and judging by the dates on the circuit boards, they were likely second-hand goods.

"Master Yang, you're the expert. Can you help me estimate how much these things are worth in total?"

"Comrade Xiao Han, electronic equipment upgrades quickly, and estimating the value is challenging. Besides, we are a research institute, not a forensic organization, so we can't provide the kind of appraisal report your police need; we can only help identify what they are."

"I'm asking for an estimated value, not an appraisal report."

"An estimate?"

Han Yu smiled and confirmed, "Yes, according to the current market conditions."

Master Yang pondered for a moment, then smiled and said, "These are all obsolete equipment from abroad. I think they are worth at most twenty or thirty thousand."

Han Yu pressed further, "US Dollar or RMB?"

"Of course, it's RMB."

"So, it's almost like electronic waste!"

"You're right. In my view, this is just a pile of electronic waste."

Master Yang pointed to the row of equipment, then laughed again as he recalled, "Last year, Customs seized a batch of electronic waste that looked similar to these things. Those people import this stuff back, refurbish and sell what can be refurbished, and for those that can't be refurbished, they resell them for extracting precious metals. You can imagine the pollution from extracting the metals from circuit boards."

"Thank you, got it."

"Comrade Xiao Han, what I said just now was just my personal opinion."

"No worries, we actually mainly wanted to get some understanding."

...

Han Yu expressed his gratitude, sent a few experts into the car, and was busy packing the equipment with Guo Weitao and Xiao Gong when Vice Port Director Ma suddenly called.

There is a fixed phone at the cargo yard, but since they are not familiar with people there, they were too embarrassed to borrow. Thus, he received the call this way.

"Ma Guan, we just sent the experts off, do you have any instructions?"

"No instructions, just reporting a situation."

Vice Port Director Ma was on his way to Jiangcheng, looking at the telephone records made by police officer Xiao Liu, and chuckled as he said, "The Political Commissioner and Wang Changjiang have made significant progress and obtained substantial results. Through investigating the company's contracts and accounts over the past few years, it was discovered that the company had been fraudulently reporting high export prices to countries like Thailand and Malaysia to falsely claim tax rebates. This involves 31 transactions; the export goods amount to 158 million RMB, suspected of evading tax refunds of 26 million RMB."

Han Yu exclaimed, "So, they falsely claimed tax refunds amounting to hundreds of millions!"

"The leaders of the General Bureau and the Smuggling Crime Investigation Branch were also shocked and decided to prioritize this case. They demanded we retrieve the tax refund in one push. I'm on my way to Jiangcheng, Chief Xu and Director Hu asked me to hurry to Jiangcheng for a meeting, and East Sea will be handed to you."

"Yes!"

...

Han Yu hung up the phone and reported the situation.

Guo Weitao and Xiao Gong were incredibly excited and couldn't believe they were investigating a major case involving over a hundred million.

Han Yu couldn't be happy, as he continued working, feeling anxious as he said, "Those guys are bold beyond measure; they're cheating the country out of money, and so much of it. What if we can't retrieve the tax refund, which is over a hundred million?"

"Secretary Han, don't worry, even if they lavishly spend every day, they can't spend that much."

"Yeah, they've been caught, and I don't believe they'd choose money over their lives."

"Some really would choose money over their lives."

"No way."

"What's impossible about that? As long as the death penalty doesn't apply, some might take a chance."

Xiao Gong couldn't help but ask, "Defrauding tax refunds worth hundreds of millions doesn't warrant a death penalty?"

Han Yu sighed inwardly, then bitterly smiled and said, "In recent years, many smugglers have been caught, but very few have actually been sentenced to death."

Xiao Gong was stunned.

Guo Weitao didn't know what to say for a moment.

Just then, Han Yu's phone rang again.

"You guys carry on, I'll take this call." Han Yu pulled out his phone again, glanced at the caller ID, then raised it to his ear and asked, "Brother Haoran, what's up?"

Xu Haoran hadn't slept the whole night but wasn't feeling tired at all, and exclaimed, "Salted Fish, we might have caught another big fish!"

"What big fish?"

"Li Dawei, the ship owner who resold 'Red Oil' to inland river cargo ships, has come clean. He confessed that 'Red Oil' was sold to him by the Captain and Chief Officer of his nephew's oil tanker at the Wusong Port anchorage. To seek leniency, he reported a lead."

"What lead?"

"His nephew works at a shipping company specializing in crude oil transportation in the South Sea. He reported that the company's 'Changshun 1' and 'Huanhai 6' oil tankers are colluding with the 'Nanshan' and 'Beishan' oil tankers owned by another South Sea company to sell stolen crude oil from China Petrochemical."

Han Yu thought he misheard and asked in shock, "Selling stolen crude oil, who are they selling it to?"

Xu Haoran excitedly replied, "Mainly to places like Wusong Port, selling it to small refineries in East Sea and our Jiangnan at a price of 2,700 yuan per ton."

This was no small affair, Han Yu pursued in questioning, "How did Li Dawei know?"

"Transferring to inland rivers requires small boats, and the small oil boat for transfer was arranged by him."

"Does he know which small refineries have bought the illicitly sourced crude oil?"

"He knows of three."

"Does his nephew know he's been caught?"

"Shouldn't know; we caught him in the evening when there weren't many boats on the river."

"Okay, continue the interrogation. I'll head back now, at the latest, be home before dark!"