Binjiang Police Affairs

Han Yu achieved victory in the first battle, and Zhao Hongxing didn't disappoint either.

Among the two cases just solved, one definitely qualifies as a major case.

There's no need to worry about not completing the crackdown mission, and with the seizures, there's no need to fret about the funding for the upcoming severe crackdown.

Director He felt spirited with the good news, considering inviting Director Peng from the Water Police Station to visit Bailong Port together, to express their gratitude to the police and auxiliary police involved in the crackdown on waterborne crime when Han Yu's call surprisingly came first.

"Salted Fish, I was just about to come over to your place."

"Director He, you better not come today."

"Why, you're not welcoming me?"

"It's not that I'm not welcoming, it's that there's an urgent situation."

"What urgent situation?" Director He stood up subconsciously.

Without having the time to greet Director Shi Shengyong from Four Factory Police Station, who had rushed over, Han Yu gripped the phone tightly and said, "The ships anchored at Yingchuan Port Anchorage have started moving, and Chen Xiaojuan's gang has moved!"

Director He was taken aback and couldn't help but laugh, "That's a good thing. We're not afraid of them moving; we fear they don't. As long as they move, we can catch them red-handed and close the net."

"Director He, it's not as simple as you think."

"What do you mean?"

"Catching them in the act is easy, but it's hard to arrest them all at once."

"Make it clear to me. I don't quite understand."

Han Yu steadied his mind and explained, "In the past few days, Chen Xiaojuan's gang has been quite active in the Yingchuan Port Anchorage. From the surveillance by Xiao Yu and Liu Xinpei, we've learnt that Chen Xiaojuan's gang has been in contact with more than just those two ships involved in the last iron ore transport."

"What's the big deal with that?" Director He inquired.

"I'm sorry, Director He, I didn't make it clear."

Han Yu organized his thoughts and analyzed, "We've just received news that a cargo ship fully loaded with imported coal has docked on the pier across from Yingchuan Port and is unloading the coal. There are a total of 30,000 tons of coal on the foreign ship, all set to be transported to Jiangcheng.

Loading the ship takes time, filling an inland river cargo ship of about a thousand tons can take several hours, and these inland river cargo ships won't return to the anchorage to wait after being loaded with coal; instead, they leave one by one after being loaded. In other words, when the first ship filled with coal arrives in Jiangcheng, the last ship might not have started loading yet."

Thinking it over, Director He suddenly realized, "Now that communication is so advanced, catching one in the act could alert the other ships!"

"If we catch the first one but miss the last, then it's difficult to prove that those ships ahead were stealing on duty, even if they don't escape outright."

"How about we check the weight during the unloading at the Jiangcheng docks?"

"Not every dock is equipped to weigh and measure cargoes. Besides, doing so would still alert the other ships."

"What should we do then?"

"Director He, when I last reported to the Bureau, I mentioned to you about finding a camera that could film even at night. If we could find one, we would just need to capture their stealing on duty, and we would have the evidence of their misconduct."

Cameras that can film at night exist on television.

Not long ago, a legal program on the central television channel featured a case where police officers used a night-vision camera to record the entire process of the criminals committing their crimes.

Director He fell silent for a moment and then asked with a wry smile, "Such advanced filming equipment may be hard to find, but even if we do, will there be enough time to get it?"

Han Yu eagerly said, "The loading has just started, and it will take at least four hours to fill the ships. The waterway in Yingchuan Port Waters is complex, and there are many kinds of vessels passing through, so it's highly unlikely that they will choose to pilfer goods there. The waters around Lang Mountain, Binjiang Port, and Tiansheng Port are also not suitable for them to offload the coal.

Chen Xiaojuan's gang are currently heading upstream, and I estimate that they will at least get to Gaoru Waters before they transfer the coal. Even if a coal-laden ship reaches Gaoru Waters, it will take at least five hours, and they are unlikely to offload the coal in broad daylight, meaning we have at least twelve hours to prepare!"

"Okay, I will call the TV station now to see if they have that kind of filming equipment."

"Binjiang TV Station doesn't have one, you might ask the provincial station."

"How would I know someone from the provincial station? I'm not as familiar with them as you are with Binjiang or Jiangnan Province."

"Right, I'll also call Reporter Wang."

It's urgent.

Han Yu ended the call with the Bureau leader and immediately called Reporter Wang.

Director Shi Shengyong, seeing him so busy, was too anxious to interrupt.

"Great, thank you, Uncle Wang. You've helped me a lot this time. No need to worry about the car; as long as they can help, I'll call Director Zhang to arrange for a car pick-up. Alright, I'll wait for your news."

"Director Zhang, here's the situation… Yes, yes, that gang. If we have evidence of their stealing on duty, I'll dare to let them go. You arrange for someone to wait at the docks after they unload and follow them to see where they go. Once we have apprehended the last ship here, you can close the net over there at the same time."

There was progress in the case of over two thousand tons of iron ore theft.

Zhang Junyan was thrilled, but upon further thought, said helplessly, "Salted Fish, it will take at least twenty ships to transport thirty-thousand tons of coal. How many police do we have at Jiangcheng Branch? And we have even fewer law enforcement vessels, just one small speedboat. How can I keep an eye on all of them?"

Han Yu considered for a moment and spoke firmly into the phone, "Then let's set a trap and wait for the rabbit. Once they unload the coal and leave the dock, in conjunction with Port Supervision, we'll find an excuse to take control of the people and the ships, one by one after unloading. As long as we keep the operation confidential, it should be fine."

"That's the only way then. You take care of gathering evidence, and I will hurry to contact Port Supervision to set up a pocket formation for them to fall into our trap!"

"Alright."

His phone call was not yet finished when his cellphone rang.

Han Yu picked up his cell phone. It was a call from the Chief. He quickly ended the landline call and answered the cell, "Director He, what's up?"

"I just inquired at Binjiang TV Station; they don't have equipment capable of filming at night."

"It's okay if they don't have it, I just asked Reporter Wang from Binjiang Radio Station, and he said the provincial station has it. He's helping me make the arrangements."

This is a very serious matter, Director He asked urgently, "Can we borrow it?"

Han Yu smiled and said, "Others might not be able to borrow it, but Reporter Wang should have no problem. Although he is a reporter from Binjiang, he has a high status in Jiangnan's news industry. If he says it can be borrowed, then there will be no problem."

"Just borrowing the equipment is useless, we don't have anyone who can operate it!"

Director He, rest assured, we will borrow the operators as well. I just called Director Zhang, and as soon as Reporter Wang calls to speak with them, Director Zhang will arrange for a car to pick them up from the provincial station."

"That's great, I knew you were a local tyrant, you handle these matters better than I do."

"What do you mean local tyrant, Director He, are you praising me or criticizing me?"

"Praising you, of course!"

Seeing Old Comrade Shi started to speak and then stopped, Han Yu didn't have time to joke with the bureau leaders and quickly reported the arrest plan he had discussed with Director Zhang.

Deep down, Director He wished that the operation could take place on the Binjiang side.

But those inland river cargo ships transporting coal couldn't possibly set off at the same time; their departures would be staggered. To catch them all in one sweep, they could only rely on Zhang Junyan's side to do it.

Director He couldn't express how regretful he was and pondered, "This plan is feasible, but can we make some adjustments?"

"How should we adjust it?"

"We were mainly worried about catching the big fish but missing the small ones. Now that evidence collection is resolved, we could focus on catching the tail, the last few ships."

"That works too, I'll discuss it with Director Zhang again. We'll take care of catching the tail."

"Hurry and communicate with Director Zhang, and make it clear to him that we're not trying to take credit. It's just that after so much preliminary work and our comrades have been on the watch for so many days, if we were to just collect the evidence and call it done, it would dampen their enthusiasm for work."

"I understand, I get it."

...

At 2:21 p.m., Reporter Wang called to say that he had already arranged everything with the provincial station.

However, their equipment was expensive, and they intended to send someone to help with the filming. They didn't explicitly ask for money but intended to promote the image of the Changhang Bureau.

Promoting the image is essentially advertising, and advertising requires paying money.

Not knowing how much they wanted, Han Yu didn't dare to agree and quickly called Director He again.

Director He's stance was clear, this wasn't just a matter for the Binjiang Branch; Han Yu should ask Director Zhang and Director Peng of the Water Police Station what they thought.

After making some calls and asking around, the eager-to-solve Zhang Junyan promised no matter the cost, the Changhang Jiangcheng Branch would pay half, and the remaining half would be split between the Changhang Binjiang Branch and the Binjiang Police Bureau Water Police Branch.

As for the future promotional image that the provincial station would create, the opportunity was simply given to the Water Police Station.

After all, compared to the Changhang Police, the Water Police Station needed more promotion.

Once everything was settled and all the necessary arrangements had been made, Han Yu finally had time to chat with his neighbor.

"Director Shi, why did you come here in person, you could have just called me for anything!"

"Some things I can call you for, but what I have to say today must be in person."

"What's the matter?"

Shi Shengyong looked back at those behind him, pretending to be upset, "Director Yu, although I am not your senior, we are neighbors, friends, and partners! When you do things, you need to be fair and impartial; you can't favor one side over the other."

Han Yu realized why he had come and asked with a smile, "Does the station have a lot of pressure to crack down on crime?"

"Since my appointment, I've been enforcing strict measures all this time. Those who deserved to be dealt with have been dealt with by me already, and those fugitives we could catch have also been brought back. Now they've assigned a whole bunch of crackdown tasks to our station; how do you expect me to complete them without making some false or wrongful cases?"

"You can report these conditions to Director Zhou."

"It's no use reporting to him; he's having an even harder time. Last month he almost ended first from the bottom, and this month if no results are produced, he might really end up last and have to go on stage for self-criticism."

"What can be done then?"

"You can't just be busy helping Fang Zhiqiang complete his tasks; you should also think about me. You came from the Four Factory Police Station. When your old unit is facing difficulty, you can't just ignore it."

Completing the crackdown is targeted, and not meeting targets makes life difficult.

And if you can't complete it, someone else can.

The police are an institution that places a great emphasis on honor; nobody wants to be last.

Han Yu could understand the difficulties of his old neighbor and former leader and said with a smile, "Over this past month we've collected quite a few leads, all of which are summarized with Director Jia. I'm just about to return to the dunship, and I can accompany you to see Director Jia. As long as it involves onshore activities, such as things that need to be verified, how about I include them in your tally?"

Far-off water can't quench immediate thirst.

Shi Shengyong grabbed Han Yu's arm at once and asked with a smile, "The case you just reported over the phone must be a big one; can you include my Four Factory Police Station?"

"That case just now won't work, didn't you hear? There are already four parties involved, how would we report that to our superiors if there are any more?"

"But it's only three branches. Your branch, Jiangcheng Branch, and the Water Police Station, right?"

"There's also my second senior brother; he even sent someone to Hui'an for this case."

"You play favorites, why didn't you tell me about this good thing earlier?"

"I didn't tell him at the beginning either; he came to me because he couldn't complete his task!"

"What you are saying is that I came too late?"

"Yeah."

"Alright then, let's first go see Director Jia."