84: Mysterious Intelligence

Silence fell over the scene.

Investigating smuggling is an extremely difficult task.

Smuggling is not as simple as just catching a few people; it requires directly uprooting the entire channel from the source, otherwise, it is almost certain to resurface.

After all, the profits from smuggling are simply too high. For example, a car imported through official channels into the country needs to pay a 25% tariff, a 17% value-added tax, plus a consumption tax determined by the car's displacement.

A large-displacement imported car might have taxes and fees that reach 70% of its selling price in the country of origin.

A large ocean-going cargo ship can easily carry more than 5000 cars. Assuming these cars are mid-range, around 300,000 yuan each, then even without counting the consumption tax, the evaded tariffs and value-added tax alone amount to hundreds of millions of yuan.

Moreover, this behavior is often secretly supported by the country of origin. For instance, Japan directly overwhelmed the European market by massively smuggling Toyota cars, severely weakening all European car brands.

Besides smuggling cars, the Japanese government also secretly supports seafood smuggling. Many seafood products from Fukushima and surrounding areas are dirt cheap locally, not even eaten by pigs. A large portion of this seafood is smuggled into the country by various scumbags, then sold at high prices under the guise of being from Russia or South America.

Hoping for cooperation from the Japanese government is impossible. The only thing Police can do is rely on high coordination between the anti-smuggling police, customs, and even the local Criminal Investigation Corps to slowly pry open the iron curtain built by these criminal groups, uncover their illegal activities, and grasp their smuggling channels, including but not limited to routes, involved companies, and sales.

Due to the extremely large amounts involved, these criminals know they will face severe consequences once exposed, so their methods are extremely radical, even to the point of being described as insane.

Not only are their organizations extremely tight-knit, but they also possess strong vigilance and anti-surveillance awareness. Anyone who might threaten them will be ruthlessly eliminated.

Furthermore, shipping operations are mostly conducted on the sea where regulation is difficult, and they involve multiple ports and various jurisdictions across several countries, which greatly increases the difficulty of investigation and prosecution.

Also, there aren't many good ways to investigate smuggling activities. Many times, they can only first discover goods of unknown origin in the market, then follow the clues, conduct extensive investigations, roughly determine the direction of suspicion, and then collect targeted evidence.

Sihai Shipping's suspected smuggling crime was uncovered in this manner. According to the intelligence currently available, the group's smuggling likely involves multiple areas, including but not limited to crude oil and cars. Poisonous seafood is just one item in their illegal activities, but unlike other smuggled goods, seafood is an extremely time-sensitive commodity for smuggling, with a shorter process and faster cycle, thus it was chosen by Police as a breakthrough point for investigation.

Moreover, shipping is an indispensable part of the smuggling channel that cannot be easily replaced. Taking down the shipping operation can directly cut off the entire channel.

Unfortunately, despite so much effort and the great sacrifices made by two undercover officers, the lead was still cut off.

While Police can find the captain through the registered ship number, it is futile without catching evidence of his illegal activities.

And even if he is investigated and prosecuted, he is just the most insignificant endpoint in the smuggling chain and won't help much.

Police cannot indiscriminately investigate everyone in Sihai Shipping who might be involved in organizing smuggling. This would require immense manpower and resources and would also disrupt the company's normal operations. After all, although Sihai Shipping is suspected of smuggling, no one can currently determine whether this is a group-wide action or if someone is using their position to organize this smuggling network.

“Director Li, how is the investigation into President Li Wei of Sihai Shipping Group progressing at your Anti-Smuggling Department?” Director Zhang looked at a Police Officer wearing the same white police uniform beside him. “Any progress?”

“None.” Director Li shook his head. “The volume of business involved in the entire Sihai Shipping Group is too large and too complex. In a short time, we simply cannot uncover the criminal facts or identify suspects through methods like auditing accounts or checking customs clearance procedures.”

Director Zhang nodded. Sihai Shipping is the leading shipping group locally, or rather, the only group whose main business is shipping in the area. Basically, the export business of this city and even several surrounding provinces is handled by Sihai Shipping.

This complex and extensive business scope means Sihai Shipping has a large number of people in charge of various aspects. Among them, there are at least fifty individuals capable of building such a smuggling channel.

“Captain Liang, what about your Criminal Investigation Corps?” He looked at Liang Yuzhu.

Liang Yuzhu also frowned deeply. She shook her head helplessly. “Our Criminal Investigation Corps used the case of Howling Wolf's car accident as a breakthrough. After a series of investigations, we found the hit-and-run vehicle at a recycling plant.”

“Subsequently, based on the registration information, we found the owner. However, the owner went abroad three years ago. He didn't even know his vehicle was scrapped because his car was parked on the roadside and towed away by the traffic police for mandatory scrapping.”

“So, after investigating for so long, we can't even determine who we should be investigating.” Director Zhang nodded, speaking self-mockingly.

The atmosphere in the conference room was heavy, and everyone fell silent.

In this era, a large number of highly intelligent criminals have emerged, using their intelligence to harm society. The unique nature of Police means they can only passively respond to the increasingly complex tricks of these criminals.

This often makes all Police Officers feel a sense of frustration, but it is their duty, and they have to investigate.

And they must investigate!

“Hmm…” Liang Yuzhu was a bit hesitant. She had received some intelligence from Lan Zijun earlier, but this intelligence had no corroboration.

She wasn't afraid that the intelligence was false, but she was afraid of misleading everyone's investigation direction.

“Captain Liang, did you find something?” Her hesitation was keenly noticed by Director Li.

All eyes turned towards her, including Director Zhang.

“I did obtain a piece of intelligence, but I cannot confirm its truthfulness,” Liang Yuzhu bit her lip and spoke honestly.

“It's alright, we don't have any ideas right now anyway. It's good even if you just propose a hypothesis,” Director Zhang encouraged.

“Okay.” Liang Yuzhu nodded.

“I received an unconfirmed message,” she emphasized, “that Sihai Shipping and Chuangtong Logistics have a very close relationship; the two can be regarded as strategic allies.”

Director Zhang nodded. This message actually doesn't need confirmation. Chuangtong Logistics is a logistics company, mainly engaged in international freight forwarding. It's very normal for them to form a strategic alliance with Sihai Shipping, the only local shipping group.

“And these two are very likely under the same actual controller, Wang Lin,” Liang Yuzhu continued.

“Wang Lin?”

A surprised voice rang out. It was Section Chief Xie from the Economic Crimes Division. He looked at Liang Yuzhu with surprise. “Are you saying, Wang Lin, the second son of Kelly Investment's President Wang Jian?”

“Yes.” Liang Yuzhu nodded.

“Him? Doing smuggling?” Not only Section Chief Xie was surprised, but even Director Zhang clearly had doubts about the truthfulness of this news.

After all, Wang Jian's name is widely known, the richest man locally. Although he has been declining somewhat in recent years, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse.

And his son, Wang Lin, has had resources since childhood that ordinary people could never attain even after a lifetime of struggle. If he wanted to make money, there are countless ways. Not to mention, just following his father to invest in a project could earn him hundreds of millions in minutes, and it would be legal and legitimate.

Under such circumstances, Wang Lin seems to have no motive at all to engage in smuggling. Even if he is insatiably greedy, competing with his Big Brother for inheritance would be better than taking such a big risk with smuggling.

“Where did you get this information?” Director Zhang asked with a frown.

“A business friend of mine.” Liang Yuzhu did not mention Lan Zijun's name. She still didn't want her best friend to get involved in this case.

Director Zhang glanced at Liang Yuzhu. He didn't know what was going on with his subordinate, why she suddenly became so secretive.

“And besides this information, I also got a photo.” She took out her phone and projected the image directly onto the projector screen.

A large image appeared on the big screen, showing Wang Lin and an unknown woman.

Everyone frowned as they looked at the picture. It was a very ordinary picture. The only notable thing might be that it seemed to be a screenshot from unknown surveillance footage and then AI-enhanced.

Other than that, there was nothing. There were no criminal facts, nor anything that could be linked to crime.

“This is just Wang Lin having coffee with a friend, right? Who is this woman?” Director Li asked with a frown.

“Let's ignore the identity of this woman for now, but does this picture have anything to do with our case?” Section Chief Xie was also a bit confused.

Director Zhang's expression was also puzzled. He glanced at the picture, his gaze returning to Liang Yuzhu's face.

“Xiao Liang, you…” he began kindly, but his voice suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

The next second, he turned around abruptly, looking at the picture again. His movement was so sudden it startled everyone present.

“Zoom in, zoom in, enlarge the picture, focus on this woman's hand!” he shouted, clutching his neck.

Police Officer operating the equipment confusedly slid the mouse, enlarging the screen.

Meanwhile, Director Zhang jumped up abruptly, knocking over his chair with a loud crash.

But he paid no attention, instead letting out a sigh of overjoyed relief.

“It's this lighter!”

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