Chapter 3 Line Report 6

  The anti-drug brigade has only had a brief respite in recent months. Since the last time they surrounded and captured the old nine gangs on Wudeng Mountain, drug traffickers have been silent as cicadas in winter, not daring to make any moves, allowing the anti-drug police to also enjoy a rare peaceful life of going to work on time, picking up their kids, and accompanying their wives.

  Lao Wei is just an ordinary anti-drug police officer, and everyone calls him Lao Wei not because he's old, but because at the age of 40, his hair has already turned into a "Mediterranean" due to long-term brain work. The task of anti-drug police officers is to deal with drug traffickers, they rarely have hard confrontations, and when encountering armed drug traffickers, they usually call for special police support. However, managing various informants, analyzing various intelligence, and tracking down various clues make many anti-drug police officers age prematurely. Many anti-drug police officers are transferred to other departments at Lao Wei's age, and in the anti-drug brigade, only the leader is more like a leader than him.

  Lao Wei joined the anti-drug brigade at 18 and has been there for 22 years, which is longer than many leaders' years of service. His rich experience makes him a think tank for the anti-drug brigade - in other words, he is one of the busiest people around!

  The rare peace allowed Old Wei to have some time to make up for his wife. When work gets busy, he often doesn't go home for one or two months. His wife often complains: "In the past, I saw a halo of angels on your head, now it looks like there isn't even a circle of grass..."

  Facing his wife and children, Old Wei felt a deep sense of guilt. However, due to the nature of his work, he couldn't bear to give up the anti-drug career he had dedicated himself to for 22 years. When faced with complaints, he could only smile apologetically. Whenever he had time, he would accompany his wife to watch movies or take his daughter to tutoring classes.

  At home, the 6-year-old daughter was playing the piano. Lao Wei sat on one side listening seriously. He always believed that his daughter would become an excellent pianist in the future. Although he didn't have a high income, he gritted his teeth and bought a piano for his daughter and hired a very famous piano teacher to tutor her.

  The daughter finished playing a song, and Old Wei applauded: "Great job! It sounds too good!" As soon as the words fell, the mobile phone rang. Old Wei took a look and saw that it was a call from the Narcotics Brigade duty room, and quickly picked up: "What's the situation?"

  "Wei Tou, come over to the squad for a moment, there's something we can't figure out." The one on duty was young anti-drug police officer Xiao Bin.

  The phone is an alarm, Old Wei gets up and says apologetically: "Teacher Pei, something has come up in the team and I have to go, I'll get my mom to pick up the kid later."

  As soon as his daughter heard this, her face immediately fell: "I'm not practicing anymore!"

  "Baby, be good... Daddy will be back soon, I'll tell you a story tonight..." He said with his mouth, and had already picked up his coat and was walking out the door.

  Hearing his daughter's loud wail from behind the door, Old Wei's heart ached, but he had to rush back to the team. The information received by the duty room might be intelligence from an informant, and it was rare to get information about cunning drug traffickers. If they were late, they would likely miss their chance.

  Lao Wei started the car and headed towards the anti-drug brigade, dialed Xiao Bin's phone to ask about the situation: "Whose intelligence? Be more specific."

  Xiao Bin was somewhat frustrated: "I'm not clear, it's not our informant, it's very vague, I can't be sure."

  "Has anyone else been informed?" Old Wei asked with some surprise.

  "I've already told Lao Da, and he's on his way too. It was him who asked you to come this time."

  "Okay, I'll talk again when I arrive."

  Rushing to the anti-drug brigade, Lao Wei directly went up to the duty room floor, pushed open the door and walked in. Xiao Bin and several duty police officers were repeatedly playing a recording, seeing Lao Wei, they made way for him, Lao Wei picked up the headphones and put them on.

  "Is it the Narcotics Brigade?" The voice was slightly slow and was a medium-pitched male voice with a slight huskiness.

  "Hello, this is the Narcotics Brigade, what's your question?" It was the voice of switchboard operator Little Li.

  "Does the border belong to your jurisdiction?" The male voice still spoke slowly and calmly.

  "Hello, do you have any leads?" Little Li's voice was barely containing his excitement.

  "In the next few days, a batch of timber will be smuggled from Ningming and possibly also from Linqing..."

  "Hello, this is the anti-smuggling brigade. Smuggling falls under the jurisdiction of customs." Little Li's tone was somewhat disappointed.

  "Hey, Police Flower Sister, what can a wooden stick do?" said the male voice in a playful tone.

  "Hello, what can I help you with?"

  "The brain is for storing things." The male voice responded irrelevantly.

  "Sir, this is the anti-drug brigade. Did you dial the wrong number? Do you need to be transferred to another department?" Little Li's tone was somewhat urgent, she thought it was a harassing call.

  "Bye!" The male voice hung up the phone.

  This nonsensical phone call recording left Police Officer Jin confused, originally it was supposed to be handled as a harassment call, but when Little Li checked the caller's number, it turned out to be an empty number, the other party might have used a number generator to dial, Little Li felt that something was fishy, so he told Xiao Bin who was on duty, Xiao Bin vaguely felt that there was something to this, but couldn't quite put his finger on it, and could only report it to their leader.

  Xiao Bin explained the whole story from beginning to end, looking at Lao Wei. Lao Wei played back the recording and listened again. Based on his experience, there was something mysterious about this phone call.

  When the team leader arrived, he listened to the recording and looked at Lao Wei with inquiring eyes: "What's your opinion?"

  Lao Wei thought for a moment: "Notify Customs and Border Defense, inspect cargo vehicles."

  "Just based on this recording, should we mobilize so many customs and border personnel to investigate?" The leader felt that this was a bit of an overreaction.

  "I think there must be a large quantity of drugs coming from that side, and it's highly likely they're mixed in with the timber vehicles." Old Wei insisted on his view.

  "Lao Wei, we need to get accurate intelligence on the contraband, or else tomorrow with nearly a thousand vehicles passing through customs, without accurate intelligence, the entire port will become severely congested, and the losses will be in the tens of millions!"

  "I understand that based on my experience, the person who made this call didn't have accurate intelligence. He just knew there was a recent smuggling of drugs and if we don't take any measures, the loss will be even greater!"

  The leader looked at him for half a day and turned his head to say to Xiaobin: "Coordinate with the customs and border defense, focus on checking wood vehicles."

  "Shall we... notify the Armed Police Special Operations Unit and the SWAT team?"

  "Not for now."

  ……

  For several days, the vehicles at the border crossings of Ningming and Lincang formed a long queue. The border police strictly checked every vehicle, and even if all documents were in order, they would still be required to open their trunks for inspection. Drivers and passengers were repeatedly questioned, and cargo trucks were inspected even more rigorously. Many suspicious vehicles were pulled over to the parking lot for unloading and inspection. The long wait was infuriating, and there have been several instances of drivers and passengers yelling at border inspectors, with some even resorting to physical altercations.

  Although so, border inspection personnel still strictly inspected and did not find a package of drugs in these days, but instead found many smuggled goods such as animal hides and wild animals.

  The scorching weather made everyone anxious, and Lao Wei led a few anti-drug police officers, including Xiao Bin, to stake out the Ningming border crossing. If they still couldn't find the drugs, the Ningming border crossing would be on the verge of collapse! But looking at the long line of vehicles waiting outside the crossing, who could guarantee which car the drugs were hidden in?

  It was already midnight, and the border crossing was still impassable. Border inspection personnel directed a cargo truck to drive to the inspection location, where several armed police officers stood guard at their posts.

  This truck is no different from other trucks, loaded with wood. The driver jumped off the car and handed a cigarette to the border inspection personnel: "Hard work, hard work."

  The border inspector waved his hand to push away the cigarette, checked the customs documents, and from the documents, there was nothing suspicious. Two armed police officers climbed onto the truck and used a flashlight to inspect it, but they didn't find anything out of place either. However, he still caught Old Wei's attention, experience told him that this driver had a problem, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

  Lao Wei whispered a few words to the border inspector, who waved his hand: "Drive the car into the parking lot."

  The driver was taken aback, his expression somewhat complicated, which did not escape Old Wei's eyes. Old Wei glanced at Xiao Bin, who stood behind him with two anti-drug police officers. The driver helplessly said, "How did it get so complicated?"

  "Seriously investigate, he must have a problem." Old Wei said to a border defense armed police lieutenant, the lieutenant nodded and added personnel.

  The driver anxiously watched in the border inspection room as the wood was unloaded, and after the wood on the truck was unloaded, Old Wei still didn't feel at ease, using a hammer to tap here and there, trying to find hollowed-out wood. The sniffer dog also circled around the truck sniffing back and forth. The sky had already brightened, and after checking the truck and wood several times, nothing was found. Old Wei looked at the armed police lieutenant, who shook his head helplessly.

  Since nothing was found, they could only let them go. However, when they heard that they could be released, the expression of relief and the previous anxiety were like two different people, making Lao Wei suspicious. Lao Wei thought for a moment: "Open the engine and water tank!"

  The people around were stunned for a moment, this is the rhythm of dismantling the car! The daily inspections had already exhausted everyone, and dismantling the car was not something that could be completed in a short time. If no drugs were still found, how would the driver make a scene?

  But Lao Wei insisted, and the armed police lieutenant had no choice but to let two armed police go to the driver's cab to open the switch, and lower the driver's cab of the flat-head truck, revealing the engine.

  The driver, who had been pretending to be calm just a moment before, suddenly became nervous when he saw the armed police checking the engine. He then suddenly punched the anti-drug police officer next to him, snatched the gun from the officer's waist and took off running.

  The sudden change left everyone stunned for a moment, and before they knew it, the driver had already run dozens of meters, rushing towards the parking lot gate.

  "Halt! Catch him!" The armed police lieutenant reacted quickly, taking off in pursuit. Two armed police soldiers jumped down from the driver's cab of the truck and chased after him relentlessly. Old Wei and Xiao Bin saw this and didn't even bother with the truck, drawing their guns to join in the chase.

  "Be careful! He has a gun!" The armed police lieutenant shouted while chasing, reminding others in the parking lot. People heard and dodged one after another. The driver turned back and fired a shot at the pursuing armed police, but missed. While everyone was dodging, the driver ran onto the road, jumped into an SUV waiting for inspection, and crashed through the barrier by stepping on the accelerator.

  "Quickly chase! Quickly chase!" Old Wei saw the driver snatch the car and run away, he was anxious! Xiao Bin hurried to start the car.