CHAPTER 495: CHAPTER 345 "SMALL CASE" (3)

At 10:22, the Supervision Boat of the Third Team slowly approached No.3 Pier at Liuhe Port.

Previously, this area was under the jurisdiction of the Binjiang Port Supervision Bureau. Old Ge, very familiar with Liuhe Port, tied the rope and asked puzzledly, "Director Jin, why did Director Zhu send us to Liuhe?"

Jin Weiguo was equally baffled, returning to the cabin, he picked up the VHF radio handset, "Director Zhu, Director Zhu, this is Jin Weiguo, we have reached the port, please give instructions!"

"Old Jin, which pier are you docked at?"

"No.3 Pier."

"Stay on the Supervision Boat for now. Your task is to pick up several people."

"Who are we picking up?"

"Old Liu from the Bailong Port Police Station, and a few members from the Criminal Investigation Fourth Squad of the Linghai Police Bureau."

"When did Director Liu get to Liuhe, and what is he doing in Liuhe?"

"You’ll find out soon, but whatever you see later, do not tell anyone, especially not a word to those who come aboard the Supervision Boat with Old Liu."

"Are they here to apprehend someone?"

"You’ll know soon enough, I’ll call them, they should reach the No.3 Pier very soon."

Sister Zhu hung up the handset and hurried to the window.

Looking downstairs, she saw Old Huang, a worker from the Port Supervision Bureau, entering the communication room, waiting approximately two minutes before Old Wu came out and headed straight for the bike shed, riding off on a bicycle.

This was all arranged; saying Old Wu was going to the Port Authority to fetch documents was actually to have him report to the Severe Punishment Task Force of the Changhang Bureau.

Xiao Kong and two seasoned officers of the third group of the Severe Punishment Task Force were waiting for him at the intersection ahead.

Everything was proceeding in an orderly fashion, the mastermind had been caught, Sister Zhu finally breathed a sigh of relief, stepped out of the Traffic Control Center, took the elevator downstairs, and rushed to the office building to report to the Director.

Meanwhile, Sister Liu from the Changhang Bureau, charged with staying back, took a Bureau jeep with arrest procedures in hand, hurriedly making her way to Bailong Port.

The procedures were issued by the Bureau, but after escorting back the mastermind, he wouldn’t be held at the Binjiang City Police Department detention center, but directly transferred to the Linghai Police Bureau detention center.

As for which detention center to transfer him to, the Bureau leadership fully respected the opinions of the Port Supervision Bureau, since the Bureau itself didn’t have a detention center anyway.

While Dunship’s Zhang Ping, Xiao Gong, and Old Jia were curious about what Police Team’s Sister Liu was doing there, Jin Weiguo and Old Ge not only picked up Old Liu and Zhiqiang, but also saw an old acquaintance who was handcuffed.

"Zhang Guoqiang!"

"Director Jin..."

"Zhang Guoqiang, what’s happened to you?"

Boss Zhang, seeing Jin Weiguo as if seeing a savior, was about to speak when he was pushed into the cabin by Zhiqiang.

Old Liu, meanwhile, turned back to look at the van parked on the pier and smiled, "Director Jin, lend a hand."

Jin Weiguo instinctively asked, "Lend a hand with what?"

"Moving stuff, there are several large boxes in the van that need to be moved back."

"What’s in them?"

"Evidence."

Jin Weiguo caught on, couldn’t help but ask, "Director Liu, what exactly did Zhang Guoqiang do?"

Old Liu, understanding his feelings, smiled and said, "The case is still under investigation, I can’t tell you now, but you’ll find out in a few days."

Not knowing what to expect until landing, opening the back doors of the van was a shock.

The van was filled with four large cardboard boxes, each filled with blank seaman’s certificates. On top of one box was a red plastic shopping bag filled entirely with various official seals.

Jin Weiguo, not the slightest bit foolish, realized what was happening and exclaimed, "So he’s not only issuing real certificates but fake ones too!"

"You know enough, no talking loosely."

"I know, maintain secrecy."

...

With the mastermind captured and the evidence secured, Director Tang finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Sister Zhu used the landline on the Director’s desk to call Han Xiangning’s cellphone, hit the speakerphone button, and leaning over said, "Ningning, you know the situation best, report to Director Tang about how to proceed with the investigation."

Han Xiangning, just having spoken with Old Liu and Director Jiang far away in the South Sea, was still excited, quickly calmed her emotions, and reported,

"Director Tang, Zhang Guoqiang confessed that the official correspondence from our colleagues in the South Sea which was sent to us was secretly intercepted by him in our bureau’s communication room. Old Wu is just an old muddle-head; several official letters were stolen and he didn’t even realize it."

"Who intercepted the correspondence from the other Port Supervision Bureau locations?"

"Those are Zhang Guoqiang’s accomplices; he’s a scalper who has been operating around Liuhe Port for a long time. Not only did he help coordinate vessel inspections for Dacang’s ships and send Dacang’s crew members to our Bureau for certification exams, but he also facilitated inspections for ships from other regions and introduced out-of-province crew members to training and certification programs."

Han Xiangning glanced at her notebook, speaking animatedly: "During this process, he made friends with a few swindlers from other provinces and turned these swindlers into his subordinates who specifically dealt in fake seaman’s certificates."

Director Tang, resting his chin on his hand, asked, "How did he think of intercepting official mails, and forging fake responses under the name of our Bureau?"

"It’s tied to the heads of two shipping companies in Northern Seas. Wu Changming initially thought that Zhang Guoqiang could obtain genuine certificates. Wu Changming thought so too, which is normal because the issuance process is quite chaotic, and many people believe that as long as they pay, they can buy the certificate from some local Port Supervision Bureaus."

Han Xiangning looked up at Director Dong and continued, "Wu Changming runs a shipping company involved in big businesses and saw this as a business opportunity. He repeatedly called Zhang Guoqiang to ask if there was any problem with the certificates. Zhang Guoqiang claimed the certificates were real, but not ’solid.’"

"Not ’solid’?"

"It means they cannot withstand verification."

Han Xiangning put down her notebook and smiled, "Wu Changming said it wouldn’t work if they weren’t solid, saying he needed inland river certificates to apply for ocean-going vessel certificates. After so many years as a scalper, Zhang Guoqiang knows our processes. He claimed that verification was not a problem, but the price wouldn’t be the same as before."

Director Tang curiously asked, "How much did he sell the fake certificates for originally?"

"Originally only a thousand per set. Wu Changming stated that if they could pass the verification, he could pay two thousand per set, and Zhang Guoqiang agreed immediately. He then coordinated internally with his out-of-province peers, took responsibility for forging fake certificates using his familiarity with our Bureau, intercepted official mails sent by his peers from the South Sea to us, and also forged the response letters, putting them into official envelopes taken from our Binjiang office and mailed them from Binjiang."

"What about his other accomplices?"

"He told his accomplices, who were selling the fake certificates, to return to their hometowns and cosy up to the local Port Supervision Bureaus there, using the same method to intercept official mails and forge and send fake response letters."

These guys are really shrewd, coming up with such an idea.

If it weren’t for Han Xiangning, diligent and responsible, and if Zhang’s accomplices hadn’t slipped up in Hui’an by failing to intercept the official mail from South Sea Sea Supervision Bureau, who knows how many real certificates could have been obtained through fake ones.

After steadying himself, Director Tang asked, "What are your plans for the investigation now?"

Han Xiangning quickly said, "Director Tang, this is a gang involved in production, trafficking, purchasing, and usage of fake seaman’s certificates. It spans multiple regions, the fake certificates are trafficked by people from Jiangnan, the companies involved in buying are located in Xiguang, most of the trainee seamen are from Jianfu and Hui’an, and the fake certificates ultimately went to the South Sea, practically encompassing the entire Southern China area.

The method is also very covert. From the current information, both buyers and sellers contact each other by private calls, deliveries are made by express mail, payments are made through bank transfers, and neither buyer nor seller knows the full details. Even with photos, they can’t recognize each other, and no personal information leaked during the entire operation.

Additionally, the number of involved fake certificates is huge, with 523 sets and over 1040 books already in use. The fake stamps and text involve Port Supervision Bureaus of five locales across three provinces, so our next step will primarily be collecting evidence, and it’s going to be enormously challenging."

This is not just a Port Supervision investigation but involves police investigation as well.

Director Tang, not quite understanding, asked quietly, "What evidence needs to be collected?"

"We need to find the crew members who attended the training to understand the situation. We need to gather evidence that those two shipping companies knowingly organized the training despite knowing the inland river crew certificates were forged. We need to collect bank transfer records and call logs of the individuals involved. We need to verify the crew members’ qualifications at the relevant Port Supervision departments, and we need to examine the fake certificates and fake response letters forensically..."

Han Xiangning listed these tasks like counting treasures, clearly aware of the workload ahead.

Having such a capable subordinate brings Director Tang great comfort. After listening to the report, he reminded, "Xiao Han, work is important, but so is your health; you’re pregnant, remember to rest."

"I know, thank you for your concern, Director Tang."

"I should be thanking you. Without you, the Bureau would be in a passive position this time."

"It’s not that exaggerated."

"Speaking the truth here, you’ve really earned a lot of credit for the Bureau this time. Saying too much praise might seem insincere, but after the case closes, Director Zhu and I will celebrate your success. Also, remember to take care of your health – I must stress this."

Director Tang looked up and exchanged glances with Sister Zhu, then added with a smile, "The travel for work is tough, accommodations should keep up, and as for what mode of transport, go with whatever’s easiest. Don’t worry about expenses; I’ll speak to finance later."

Han Xiangning couldn’t help but ask with a smile, "Director Tang, can we take a plane?"

"Like I said, go with whatever’s easiest. If necessary, you can fly."

"Thank you, Director Tang!"

"No need for thanks. The leaders at Yangtze River Port Supervision Bureau are waiting for updates; I must report to our superiors quickly."

"Alright, then I’ll hang up first."

Such great results, there’ll be money for building new ships — San’er will be thrilled!

More importantly, they could fly! She had never flown before.

As Han Xiangning thought more about it, she grew more excited. Observing Director Dong smiling silently, she sheepishly said, "Actually, there’s not much for us to do next; we mainly need to visit several local Port Supervision Bureaus to help Director Jiang and Director Shen with communications and coordination."

"Flying, staying in hotels, quite nice; just consider it a business-funded trip."

Director Dong was thrilled about such travel assignments. After thinking, he smiled and asked, "Ningning, do Director He of Changhang Bureau and Political Commissioner Jiang know how significant the results are?"

Han Xiangning giggled, "Probably not. Director He might think Director Jiang and the others are just helping us out and doesn’t know that they will play major roles from now on. He might think that dealing with fake certificates is just a minor case. Since they aren’t the ones paying, they hardly bother to call and check on the progress."

"Didn’t Director Jiang report?"

"Why would he report if the leaders aren’t interested?"

"Ningning, you guys did this on purpose, didn’t you?"

"I guess you could say that."

Han Xiangning looked back, chuckling, "San’er needs to build a new ship, but how without money? Director Jiang and Director Liu will definitely help San’er, there’s no way they’d turn their backs."