Binjiang Police Affairs-Chapter 1222 - 76: "Police Consultant

Today, a gentle drizzle fell, bringing a unique romance to the riverbank.

Xu Haoran and Zhang Baoqing braved the rain to rush to Yingchuan Port's No. 2 anchorage, visiting the cargo ships anchored there.

The newly appointed officials, Director Gu, who was in charge of the Investigation Department, and Director Wang, recently transferred from Jiangcheng, were not satisfied with the Investigation Department's work.

Before the bureau was formally established, the smuggling cases handled by the Special Task Force were either transferred by Customs or the District County Police Department. The main work of the anti-smuggling office was to supplement the investigation, collect and secure evidence, and then forward it to the Procuratorate for prosecution review.

Only a few major cases were thoroughly investigated by the Special Task Force, and even those leads came from Customs and the District County Police Department.

In short, to the two leaders, the Investigation Department should not just sit in the office waiting for leads but should go out, mobilize the public, and proactively take actions.

Ma Guan saw the logic in this, and Political Commissioner Zhou did not object either.

As a result, Zhang Baoqing, Xu Haoran, and other investigators had a hard time; they had to go out every day to build connections and gather intelligence.

Most of these investigators were transferred from the District County Police Department and were not familiar with the situation on the river. They were puzzled as to whom they should ask for help.

Although Xu Haoran had not been back in Binjiang for long, due to his late father's connections, he still had some networks. Zhang Baoqing thought he should leverage his connections and ask friends at the Water Police Station, Changhang Bureau, and Maritime Bureau for help.

Although jurisdiction over smuggling cases now fell under the Smuggling Crime Investigation Bureau, the Water Police Station and Changhang Bureau still needed achievements. If they happen to catch someone in the act, it's better to transfer them to the Smuggling Crime Investigation Bureau. Why would they help by giving you the leads?

For this reason, Xu Haoran didn't feel comfortable asking Wang Wenhong, Zhao Hongxing, or Xiao Yu but could only ask Han Xiangning for help. With the assistance of colleagues from the Changzhou Maritime Office and the Water Rescue Center, he went to interview the crew on the river.

"Regarding smuggling, Officer, we are inland river cargo ships, either carrying yellow sand or stones. How could we possibly smuggle? Besides, the time we spend running on the river is much longer than waiting near the dock to load and unload goods. Even if there's smuggling on the river, we wouldn't know."

"Yes, to investigate smuggling you should ask those running sea ships, why come to us."

The two ship owners couldn't figure out whether they were Customs enforcement officers or police, and with a mindset of having fewer problems rather than more, they responded half-heartedly.

If not accompanied by the Maritime colleagues, the ship owners would be too lazy to even entertain them.

Zhang Baoqing could tell that people were somewhat impatient and realized they were indeed asking the wrong people. After all, they don't go out to sea, transporting building materials daily on the river and small river channels within the locks, so smuggling is indeed somewhat distant to them.

Xu Haoran then smiled and asked, "Boss Liu, I know you rarely have contact with smugglers, but running on the river daily you must refuel. Have you ever encountered oil merchants?"

"Used to encounter them often, but after a crackdown caught many, it's now rare. Even if there are sellers, they wouldn't sell oil to us, they only sell to familiar ships."

As soon as the tall ship owner finished speaking, the short ship owner laughed and said, "Oil merchants' fuel might be cheap, but we don't dare to casually refuel. Who knows what kind of oil they are selling, if the quality is bad it might damage the machinery."

The tall ship owner strongly agreed and looked up, "That reminds me, the Water Police in Binjiang once caught a group of oil merchants who recycled waste oil, refined it, and resold it. The quality of their oil was very poor."

...

Having visited over ten ships, they didn't gather any leads.

Xu Haoran led Zhang Baoqing to Liu Xinpei's "supermarket ship." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

Business on the river was truly thriving, Liu Xinpei not only repaid the money they borrowed from Xiao Yu's family to buy the ship but also replaced it with a two-hundred-ton large ship.

With Xu Haoran's visit, Liu Xinpei's couple naturally had to provide food.

They prepared a large table of dishes, inviting the two to eat while laughing, "Water smuggling happens less here, but more at Wusong Port and Liuhe Port. Even if a vendor comes to sell smuggled oil, they will arrange with the buyer in advance, then sneak in during the night to unload the oil and leave right after, making it hard to catch them."

Zhang Baoqing, curious, asked, "Boss Liu, who do these oil merchants sell smuggled oil to?"

"I don't know about that, it's not like before. Now no one dares to openly sell."

"Have you ever seen a ship selling smuggled oil?"

"No, even if I did, I wouldn't know these were ships selling smuggled oil, you cannot tell from the exterior. If you could, they would've been caught by Customs and police a long time ago."

"Are their ships disguised?"

"Not only smuggling ships need disguise, even sand mining ships are disguised almost like cargo ships. Last year, Xiao Yu helped Yang Yuan seize an illegal sand mining ship. I went onboard and saw, the pumping and pipes were installed in the large cargo hold, and when not mining, they were tightly covered with tarpaulin, totally indistinguishable from the outside."

Xu Haoran didn't want to leave empty-handed again, he asked, "Brother Liu, you're on the river daily and are more familiar with the situation than we are. Where do you think we should go to gather smuggling leads?"

Liu Xinpei thought for a bit, raised his arm, and pointed east, "I think you should go to Dongqi, it's close to the sea anchorage at the entrance to the Yangtze River, there are fishing boats, a Fish Port, several small docks near the estuary. Last year, Wang Yan caught a batch of smuggled cigarettes in Dongqi; it would be best for you to take a tour there."