National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 409 - 409 376 Transportation

409: Chapter 376 Transportation 409: Chapter 376 Transportation Ningtai County’s drug enforcement team officially serves under the county’s Anti-drug Commission and focuses mainly on public education and the communication of legal knowledge.

On the rare occasion they encounter drug-related cases, Ningtai’s drug enforcement team often seeks assistance from Qinghe City’s larger drug enforcement detachment.

In fact, Qinghe City’s drug enforcement detachment isn’t overwhelmed with cases either, but as they provide support for various districts and counties and are a relatively independent unit, they get to show their presence from time to time.

In contrast, Ninghai County’s drug enforcement team leans more towards theory, with team leader Zhang Kun directly coming into meetings with a laptop in hand.

The conference room.

After a brief introduction, Zhang Kun set down his laptop and said, “From my understanding, the current case appears to be a typical instance of the ‘people-goods separation’ drug trafficking method.

This has become a primary form of drug transport within the country, with various methods employed.

For example, one common approach involves using long-distance or short-distance buses to transport drugs in an ‘ant-moving-house’ fashion.

Since luggage on buses isn’t labeled, even if we discover the drugs, or even if the trafficker is on the bus, we can’t tie it to a specific person and therefore can’t identify and capture the suspect.”

Jiang Yuan, Liu Jinghui, and the members of Jiang Yuan’s Accumulated Case Team all listened closely to Zhang Kun’s briefing.

Policing is indeed a field where each branch can seem like a separate mountain.

The daily work of criminal detectives is different from that of public security, drug enforcement, traffic police, and so forth.

Involvement at a superficial level poses little issue, and anyone can participate, but when it comes to solving cases, often the struggle lies in the details.

Zhang Kun, seeing how attentively everyone was listening, felt inspired and continued, “Besides using buses for transportation, exploiting poorly regulated courier companies is also a common tactic.

In some places, private cars are used; at night, drugs are attached to the chassis of the cars, for example, and retrieved stealthily the next day when the vehicle is parked…”

Zhang Kun listed several methods of ‘people-goods separation’, enlightening the assembled officers.

Liu Jinghui furrowed his brows deeply, “I hadn’t realized things had evolved so quickly.

In my memory, drug trafficking was still at the stage where motorcycles were used for smuggling, or pregnant women as couriers.”

Zhang Kun nodded gravely, “The method of ‘people-goods separation’ has spread rapidly, and we are now frequently face cases without an identifiable owner of the drugs, which gives everyone a headache.”

‘Ownerless drug cases’ are precisely those in which only the drugs are found, but not the owner.

Although the owner still suffers a hefty financial loss, when compared to criminal liability, the punishment for losing the drugs is far less severe.

Liu Jinghui stroked his chin, deep in thought.

It took only a minute or two before Liu Jinghui said, “Now, to assert that this case is about drug trafficking, the most direct question is, where are the drugs?

Are they hidden, or have they already been transported away?”

Before anyone could respond, Liu Jinghui mused, “Following the lead provided by Captain Zhang, we could start by checking the identities of suspects one and two, looking up information at coach stations and courier stations to see if they have purchased any tickets recently.”

This approach was very practical.

Although it sounded arduous, it was highly feasible – it simply involved assigning a few more officers to verify the information.

Jiang Yuan agreed, “If we can confirm that any suspect is the owner of the drugs, then the motive for this case will be easier to analyze.”

“Precisely,” replied Liu Jinghui, feeling as though half the dense fog had been lifted, he couldn’t help but exhale in satisfaction.

Zhang Kun continued to educate everyone on drug enforcement.

When the meeting ended, the personnel of Jiang Yuan’s Accumulated Case Team dispersed, taking with them the new insights they had just learned, and conducted thorough searches of the county’s passenger transport center and courier service points.

Identity cards, mobile phone numbers, and other information led to nothing.

If this had been a typical case, or even a common drug trafficking case, such efforts might have been shelved by this point.

Without any clues, the members of the special case team couldn’t simply wait around doing nothing.

However, Jiang Yuan’s Accumulated Case Team had slightly more personnel than needed, and given the on-going murder case, Jiang Yuan effectively had a large workforce at his disposal.

“Review the surveillance footage, focus on the coach stations and courier points, and see if we can spot the victims, one and two.”

Sitting at the end of the conference table, Jiang Yuan mustered his strength and came up with a basic strategy.

Liu Jinghui, taken aback by the suggestion, hurriedly objected, “That’s a huge area to cover.”

In Ningtai County, with its many towns and villages that primarily rely on buses for commuting, the bus stations are sizeable, with at least twenty coaches and minibuses stopping by daily.

Count in the surveillance cameras covering these vehicles, along with those in the waiting hall, and you’re easily looking at over a hundred cameras to monitor.

Liu Jinghui was daunted at the thought of how long it would take to review all this surveillance footage.

As for the courier points, there were plenty, and searching through their surveillance one by one would take at least as long as scanning a bus station.

The key issue is that the surveillance system in places like bus stations tends to be incomplete.

Regular bus passengers might not even buy tickets inside the station but wait on the street outside.

This meant that, despite checking hundreds of cameras, there was still a chance of missing something.

Liu Jinghui would never have chosen such an investigative plan.

In his life, he had never waged such a resource-rich battle; the most extensive search he’d experienced was when he went missing himself.

Jiang Yuan, young and already distinguished, being from Jiang Village, seemed determined, thinking, “Well, since this is the only lead, we’ll worry about the next step if we come up empty.”

The officers below wouldn’t hesitate; once they received orders, they acted upon them.

Soon, the new building of Ningtai County Criminal Police Detachment was filled with televisions and monitors on the fourth floor.

More than twenty officers stayed up all night watching the surveillance footage for two whole days.

This spectacle left Zhang Kun, who came to assist, dumbfounded.

Zhang Kun, involved mainly in public outreach and infrequently in casework, had even less involvement in major cases.

Now Jiang Yuan was employing the scale of resources typical of a current murder case to handle a drug trafficking case, making Zhang Kun feel as if there was a wealth of resources at play.

Jiang Yuan didn’t concern himself with what Zhang Kun thought.

For him, the drug trafficking case, still unconfirmed, was part of a murder investigation; failing to find evidence in the drug case would greatly hinder determining the murderer’s motive and the relationship between the murderer and the victims.

Jiang Yuan also reviewed the surveillance footage, specifically targeting the exceptionally blurry ones.

Several times, he could rule out suspects resembling the victims only after using Image Enhancement.

Time ticked away, second by second.

Some of the officers who first joined the special case team couldn’t keep up and began to fall asleep one after another.

Jiang Yuan called up more officers to fill their places.

Mu Zhiyang joined the fray, took a seat at an available desk, opened his computer, and started watching.

It didn’t take long before Mu Zhiyang raised his hand, “Captain Jiang, I see someone who looks a bit like victim number one.”