National Forensic Doctor-Chapter 849 - 788 Pursuit

"Duan Zhang’s older brother is called Coconut Meat; he dealt in heroin and was quite a notorious wrecker. We had our eyes on him since a year ago and about six months back, we pooled together various forces to wipe out Coconut Meat and several other wreckers, including their associated members, in one fell swoop. Coconut Meat took hostages and was killed on the spot."

Shi Zhonglong from the Narcotics Brigade gave a rough overview, leaving Jiang Yuan and the others looking at each other in bewilderment.

"Coconut Meat is dead, Duan Zhang’s life or death is uncertain, and several of his minions have fled..." Cui Qishan summed up the situation and couldn’t help asking, "So, does this mean our case is closed?"

"Pretty much. The line with Coconut Meat is essentially dead," Shi Zhonglong said.

"What about the level above? What about Coconut Meat’s boss?" Jiang Yuan pressed.

"He doesn’t have a boss anymore."

"Is the scale that small? Coconut Meat didn’t seem like a very high-level drug dealer."

"That’s the environment nowadays. Big-time drug lords seldom cross into our territory anymore, nor do they need to. They develop small wreckers inside the country. A layer below these small wreckers is usually sufficient. The drugs are brought in by disposable mules, normally in a relay. If they complete five or six out of ten deliveries, they can make a killing."

Shi Zhonglong explained the on-the-ground narcotics situation and then said, "Those big drug lords abroad contact groups specialized in telecom fraud and debt collection to buy lists, targeting desperate people. It might be hard for the average person to imagine, but some are willing to swallow 500 grams of drugs wrapped up for a mere 20,000 or even 5,000 yuan and transport them by plane."

"These disposable mules, from abroad to our country and from the border inland, just need to follow instructions on apps like Telegram. Whatever they’re told to drop off, they drop off. Wreckers like Coconut Meat do the same but pay with Bitcoin and such, and then they receive an address to pick up the goods."

Jiang Yuan understood, "So, this means the big drug lords have become very safe."

"Yes, they basically require cross-border enforcement to be effective," Shi Zhonglong nodded in agreement, "like taking out the ’hive’ of the insectoid species."

"If the drug lords aren’t in the country, they probably aren’t involved in murder cases," Jiang Yuan said, his goal clear, and then reviewing the case files he had seen, "According to witness testimony, besides Duan Zhang, Coconut Meat had several other minions. Were these individuals on the same level as Duan Zhang? Do you know their whereabouts?"

"Your informant is a drug user, right?" Shi Zhonglong from the Narcotics Brigade said. "If he only recognizes Duan Zhang and not the others. Duan Zhang started as a lowly freelance minion, while the others under Coconut Meat were originally his bodyguards. Once promoted, outside drug users wouldn’t recognize them, which is safer. However, those who worked for Coconut Meat and survived have gradually disappeared." freёwebnoѵel.com

"Has someone new taken over?" Cui Qishan was starting to understand.

Shi Zhonglong silently nodded, "The good news is that the supply of heroin has noticeably decreased; that stuff has a very high mortality rate. Regarding Coconut Meat’s line, at Duan Zhang’s level, there might have been six people. We killed one, arrested three, but missed two who were elsewhere during the raid. It’s uncertain whether they’re dead or alive now. There might still be some of the lower-level minions scattered around."

Jiang Yuan pondered for a moment, "Not counting the one killed, we could re-interrogate the three arrested to confirm the details of this case. It would also be good to ask them about any involvement in other murder cases, although they likely won’t tell us without a fight... What about the two who got away, one is Duan Zhang, but who is the other?"

"Niu Er. He may have fled out of town. We previously had a rough fix on his location but didn’t find him. These people are cunning, always prepared for such a scenario," Shi Zhonglong was not dismayed by the setback.

Career criminals and ordinary suspects are entirely different creatures.

For instance, for the typical murder suspect on the run, the first three days are the most perilous; many hide in another familiar city, which the task force can often predict, but it’s still a decent option. That’s because getting captured in a strange city is much more likely.

With the many technical methods available to the police today, if they manage the scenario well, not to mention staying in hotels or taking high-speed trains, suspects might already be caught on camera at checkpoints when leaving the city.

However, the case differs if it’s a professional criminal who’s well-prepared. Firstly, scouting escape routes is safe when no crime is being committed, and secondly, on determined routes and networks, one can make certain arrangements in advance. Jiang Yuan, for instance, once encountered an instance where several clean, fully-fueled cars were placed in a safe yard ready for use.

Just changing cars mid-journey can waste a tremendous amount of police time and efforts. And if there’s additional preparation like money, escape routes, and safe houses, safety levels can rival those of a spy.

Average people shouldn’t try this; those who can afford such arrangements generally aren’t average by any means.

The difficulty in capturing drug dealers is also related to money.

Wealthy people are harder to capture because they face fewer restrictions and have more options. For example, hiring an unlicensed vehicle for escape, getting off at some out-of-the-way location, and then buying a motorcycle to get away, makes the suspect 100 times harder to catch than one escaping on a bus.

And typically, criminals are rather poor, including middle-class men who flee in a panic after killing their wives, often ending up broke and turning themselves in after just a couple of days. Starving.

Duan Zhang and Niu Er, of this level, naturally had money in their hands, and with some preparation, once they escaped, pursuing them would be extremely difficult.

Jiang Yuan and Cui Qishan naturally knew this as well.

The two men exchanged glances and Jiang Yuan said, "Then let’s start with Niu Er, catch one at a time. Additionally, it would be best to compile a list of these people’s underlings, bring them in for questioning first."

Upon hearing this, Shi Zhonglong sensed the tempo of a sweeping arrest, hesitated for a moment, then asked, "Are they implicated in some major case?"

Cui Qishan looked at Jiang Yuan, then said to Shi Zhonglong, "They’re dissolving bodies with acid, one case has been confirmed so far, we need to see how many cases they’re involved in altogether."

Shi Zhonglong was startled upon hearing this, then his eyes lit up, "Should we establish a joint task force for this case?"

"That’s for you to discuss with our Tao," Cui Qishan was cautious to commit.

Shi Zhonglong nodded, took out his mobile phone, and said, "I’ll let our brigade leader know."

The Drug Enforcement Brigade operated on a different track, and their day-to-day work didn’t intersect too much with the Criminal Police Brigade.

However, this time, with involvement of drug dealers, narcotics lines, and homicide, it was indeed very fitting for the two brigades to collaborate on the case.

"While they’re having their discussion, let’s take a look at the case," Jiang Yuan didn’t need to concern himself with how the joint task force was formed and asked Shi Zhonglong, "Have you guys pursued Niu Er before? Can we take a look at his file?"

"Eh, start now?" Shi Zhonglong was somewhat surprised by Jiang Yuan’s swift action.

Jiang Yuan nodded, "Catch them as soon as possible. With so many people, it will probably take several days to catch them one by one."

Shi Zhonglong couldn’t help but size up Jiang Yuan and chuckled, "You really live up to the name of Ningtai Jiangyuan... Your approach is different from ours. Let’s go to our brigade then. All the files are there."

Shi Zhonglong was always quite humble, after all, the attitude for cooperation was there, and if someone was willing to catch drug traffickers, the Drug Enforcement Brigade couldn’t be happier.

As for Jiang Yuan’s attitude, it was also quite humble; he had been traveling around various places for over the past year, whether it was arresting people or investigating, in fact, all needed the cooperation of various parties, it’s just that when it came to the case, his estimate was somewhat realistic.

Cui Qishan hurriedly cleared his throat twice, spoke of some trivial matters, then ushered everyone out the door.

The Drug Enforcement Brigade had their own building.

When Shi Zhonglong brought Jiang Yuan over, the brigade leader also came out of his office and expressed his welcome.

Then, with about a dozen people crowding around, Jiang Yuan sat down in the meeting room in what appeared to be a very lively social pattern.

Jiang Yuan took the lead in the conversation, "Let’s start with Niu Er’s dossier. You mentioned there was a general location previously, where exactly is it? Is there video footage?"

Jiang Yuan was thinking about the new skill he had obtained, Image Investigation — Trajectory Analysis (Level 6). He had tried using the skill on the computer himself and found it quite effective.

Of course, all investigative skills are competitive; whether Level 6 Trajectory Analysis is effective or not depends on Niu Er’s eluding capabilities.

On the other end, Shi Zhonglong reported the situation to the brigade leader, then said, "We tracked Niu Er to Luo Jin City, and the subsequent search to Luo Jin City revealed that their image investigation team was busy with a major case and their cooperation wasn’t very enthusiastic. For the specific video footage, we may need to visit Luo Jin City to review it..."

Jiang Yuan smiled when he heard "Luo Jin City," waited for Shi Zhonglong to finish, then said, "Speaking of which, it’s just right; one of my apprentices is in Luo Jin City. I’ll ask him."

"That’s good too," Shi Zhonglong also smiled slightly, thinking to himself, what good would finding a young police officer do, even if he’s from Luo Jin City.

Jiang Yuan wanted to resolve the case while all parties were present and immediately called Pang Jidong on his mobile phone, "Jidong, I’ve got a suspect who’s fled to Luo Jin..."

Shi Zhonglong, who had interacted with Luo Jin City several times, and the brigade leader as well, lifted their eyebrows upon hearing the somewhat familiar name.