Chapter 1353: Chapter 168: Double Act! (2)

At this moment, Zhao Hongxing had already found the light switch, turned on the light, and shouted, "Everyone, behave yourselves and hurry up and get dressed!"

"Officer, you’ve surely made a mistake. I’m a good person, I have a temporary residence permit..."

"Did I say I wanted to check your residence permit? Did I give you permission to speak?" Zhao Hongxing snorted coldly, and three armed policemen rushed forward, dragging the uncooperative Liu Jie out of the flat.

Liu Jie was only wearing thermal underwear, with the temperature near zero outside as the New Year approached.

He was already shivering from the cold, but seeing not just two police cars but also a civilian car with a local plate, and even three military vehicles at the door, he felt even colder, trembling more violently.

"Wang Xiaoyan, stop hiding. Get dressed quickly and come with us!"

"Officer, please don’t catch me, I haven’t broken the law."

"Whether you’ve broken the law, we’ll find out. We won’t let a criminal go, nor will we wrong a good person. Cooperate, or don’t blame us for being rude."

They knew Wang Xiaoyan’s name, they were searching the room...

From the way they spoke, it sounded like they were from several units: Binjiang Police Bureau, Changhang Binjiang Police Station, from his hometown Dujiang, and even the Armed Police!

Liu Jie couldn’t believe he would be caught by police from several places, and even the Armed Police. Despite feeling very cold, sweat the size of soybeans beaded on his forehead.

What happened next made him even more afraid.

A plainclothes officer walked over to handcuff him, letting two Armed Policemen escort him onto an Armed Police vehicle.

Two officers packed his phone, pager, bank cards, and other items into a box, getting into the police car in front. Another officer took the car keys from the lead officer to drive his van.

Soon after, Wang Xiaoyan was also escorted out and onto the Armed Police vehicle at the back.

Even the Wujiang Police Bureau had people there; the leading officer shook hands and bade farewell with the Wujiang officers, then indicated for a police car to lead the way up front, before getting into the locally plated Santana car to follow.

Liu Jie calmed himself, cautiously asking the officer in the passenger seat, "Comrade, what are you doing? Why are you arresting me?"

"You don’t know?" Liu Guixiang retorted.

"I don’t know."

"Really don’t know, or pretending not to know?"

"I truly don’t know."

"Liu Jie, we had a hard time finding you and now that you’re in this position, you’re still pretending to be clueless. Do you think the police eat without doing any work?"

"Officer, I’m... I’m not pretending, I truly don’t know."

"Keep pretending, see how long you can keep it up!" Liu Guixiang sneered coldly, no longer acknowledging him, leaning back and closing his eyes to rest.

The police, Liu Jie wasn’t afraid of.

But he was genuinely a bit scared of these "unreasonable" officers.

They didn’t show a badge, nor did they have an arrest warrant or subpoena, and they searched the room without a warrant—this was breaking the law while enforcing the law!

Liu Jie wanted to cry out his grievances, and even wanted to question them, but seeing the Armed Police soldier staring at him with a murderous look, he swallowed his words back.

The motorcade sped through the night, traveling steadily north.

Seeing a road sign that read "Binjiang," Liu Jie realized where they were heading, quickly recalling his recent trip to Binjiang for "business" and repeatedly confirmed there shouldn’t be any slip-ups, calmly asking, "Officer, where are you taking me?"

In normal circumstances, anyone would be scared out of their wits.

The fact he was pretending to be unaffected surely meant he had a guilty conscience.

Liu Guixiang was almost certain they hadn’t caught the wrong person and impatiently said, "You’ll know when you get there, now shut up."

"I haven’t done anything, you can’t just arrest me without reason."

"I told you to shut up, didn’t you hear?"

"But..."

"No more buts, if you keep yammering, don’t blame me for being rude."

...

The grand show was about to begin, Han Yu naturally wouldn’t miss it.

Just as dawn broke, he drove his light motorcycle to the Water Police Station, noting that a criminal investigation vehicle from the city’s Criminal Police Team was parked in the yard.

The suspect had already been brought back over an hour ago and was confined in the second office to the left of the station’s main hall, guarded by four Armed Police soldiers from the Border Inspection Station.

Zhao Hongxing, Jiang Hechun, Liu Guixiang, and Director Huang from Jiangdu Police Bureau hadn’t slept and were busy outside, frequently making or answering calls.

"Director Wang, the suspect has been caught, just escorted back to the station. The Political Commissioner hasn’t returned; he took the technical police to collect biological evidence. Yes, specifically DNA samples. There’s evidence on the anchor chain, so anyone who touched it will have left something behind."

"Director Qi, the Binjiang City Bureau’s Criminal Police Team’s technical officers have arrived. They rushed over and are having breakfast at the Water Police Station’s dining hall; after breakfast, they’ll come over to draw blood from the suspect. It’s not for a test, but for analysis—matching the DNA is all that matters."

"Director Huang, I’m at the Binjiang Police Bureau Water Branch now, and the situation is quite tricky. The suspect has committed crimes in several jurisdictions, and multiple investigation units want to catch him! I’d like to go in and interrogate, but they’re not agreeing, alright, okay, we’ll wait for the DNA test results."

...

They spoke openly, showing both urgency to take the suspect away and confidence in bringing the suspect to justice.

Thinking that Liu Jie, temporarily detained in the opposite office, could hear this, Han Yu smiled.

"Director Han, why are you getting involved?"

"Chief Li, if your Border Inspection Station can join in, why can’t Customs?"

"We’re here to handle the case. We suspect the suspect is illegally crossing the border!"

"The suspect illegally crossing the border—are you joking?"

"I really don’t," Li Jun said, looking at the slightly open office door, feigning seriousness, "The ship’s gunwale is the borderline; even a ship agency person needing to board for an urgent break must go through procedures. Let alone climbing aboard unauthorized for theft. According to the ’Regulations on Frontiers and Security in Coastal Boat Areas,’ we have jurisdiction to investigate."

Han Yu knew Li Jun was talking for the suspect inside to hear, but thinking about port border jurisdiction, he couldn’t help but mock, "Old Li, you can fool others, but not me. The gunwale is the borderline—isn’t that your self-defined? Besides, smuggling itself isn’t a crime; it’s organizing or assisting smuggling that is a crime."

"Smuggling isn’t a crime, but it is illegal! Speaking of which, why is the Customs Smuggling Crime Investigation Bureau here? Do you even have jurisdiction over this case?"

"If it’s proven that the theft on the foreign ship was done by this idiot, then this idiot could potentially smuggle foreign currency into the country—do you say we have jurisdiction?"

"That being the case, you do have the right to inquire, but only to ask."

"What do you mean?"

"The case was jointly investigated by the Water Police Station, Changhang Bureau, Dujiang Police Bureau, and our Border Inspection Station. The suspect was caught collaboratively, and the DNA test is jointly funded by us all—as the case stands, it’s none of your Customs Smuggling Crime Investigation Branch’s business!"

"Is the DNA testing reliable?"

"Of course it’s reliable. As long as the report is issued by a certified forensic examination center, the court will accept it as crucial evidence."

Everyone was playing along, and naturally, Han Yu cooperated, feigning curiosity, "How does the test work?"

"Have you heard of paternity testing?"

Li Jun responded with a rhetorical question, excitedly explaining, "DNA testing is similar to paternity testing; anywhere the suspect has touched leaves DNA. The Water Police Station is asking technical police to collect DNA from the ship’s anchor chains, and later, the suspect’s blood will be collected for testing; if the suspect’s blood DNA matches with those on the anchor chains, the series of thefts are solved."

"Is it really that simple?"

"This is new technology, and with technological advancement, even solving cases becomes simple."