"Yeah, why didn't we get notified about the big deal with Ge Diao's 'deficiency crossing'?" Han Xiangning agreed wholeheartedly.

Master Han laughed, "I only found out this morning."

As soon as Master Han spoke, Xu Haoran explained, "San'er, Ningning, it's not that Uncle Han didn't inform you, it's that Uncle Ge didn't want to. He didn't want to affect your work."

Missing Old Ge's "deficiency crossing" banquet, Han Yu was a bit regretful.

Xu Haoran felt that it was both important and unimportant. After all, it was just a "casual birthday," so he simply started talking about work matters.

Previously, I thought that the intelligence work for the Smuggling Crime Investigation Bureau was about maintaining good relationships with several enforcement departments on the river and various units along Yanjiang, asking them to help keep an eye out for smuggling clues.

After working for a while, I realized that while clues can be collected this way, Binjiang's situation is different from East Guang and Jianfu Coast. There are very few blatant water smuggling operations.

Moreover, real major smuggling cases aren't this "simple and rough" smuggling, but rather high intelligence crimes, such as falsifying prices, misreporting import/export goods' names, or even forging documents to smuggle.

"My current work focus is on customs brokers, freight forwarders, and import/export enterprises. I spend more time at Customs than at the bureau, analyzing various documents every day until I'm dizzy, almost like an accountant."

Although Xu Haoran said this, his expression showed a sense of accomplishment.

He had found the right direction and understood the priorities. Han Yu genuinely felt happy for him and asked with great interest, "Any gains?"

"Yes, last month I discovered issues with two enterprises through this method, and handed over the clues to the Investigation Department. Director Wang organized a deep and detailed investigation, revealing issues in those enterprises' import/export trade. The case was officially filed yesterday."

"Do you usually go to the riverbank?"

"I do, every week I take half a day to stroll along the riverbank."

Compared to high intelligence crimes on the shore, Han Yu was more concerned about the situation on the river, smilingly asking, "Any loot by the riverbank?"

"Not for now." Xu Haoran suddenly remembered something and said, "San'er, during my visits to the riverbank, I found that often in the past two months, cargo ships anchored overnight on the river have been stolen from, with the largest economic loss being over 30,000 yuan in cash stolen."

More than 30,000 yuan in cash was stolen, and it was just from one ship; this is not a trivial matter.

Han Yu instinctively asked, "Did the ship owner report it?"

"They did report it; the Water Police Station sent police officers to the ship to investigate, but there's been no news till today."

"Do you know how the money was stolen?"

"The ship owner said they were anchored at a mooring field, more than 200 meters from the shore. The ship was a couple's ship with no outsiders on board. There weren't many ships anchored overnight at the mooring field, and they weren't anchored close to each other. It's very possible someone quietly paddled a small boat, sneaked onto the ship at midnight, and committed theft."

"It's happening often, how many cases is often?" Han Yu asked with tightly furrowed brows.

Xu Haoran thought for a while and then replied, "I know of seven cases. When I visited the ships, people saw my credentials and reported the issue, asking if our bureau was handling it."

Han Yu pursued the topic, "Did they all report it?"

"Basically, yes. Some reported to the Water Police Station, others to the Changhang Bureau."

"Did you ask the Water Police Station and Changhang Bureau?"

"How can I ask about matters like these, and such theft cases without any leads are indeed hard to solve."

"I'll call to inquire."

...

Just from what Xu Haoran knew, there were seven cases. How many more cases might there be that Xu Haoran didn't know about!

The security in Binjiang Waters has always been good; how could such a series of thefts happen? Obviously, Binjiang has spawned a thief who specifically targets anchored ships, or perhaps even a gang.

Of course, it could also be someone from elsewhere.

Han Yu didn't want to let such rampant theft happen under his nose, so he immediately dialed the phone number of Zhao Hongxing, Deputy Director of the Water Police Station.

Zhao Hongxing clarified the situation with a wry smile: "Salted Fish, I know what you're saying. Director Wang and Political Commissioner Ma are very concerned about these theft cases. I've not only boarded the ships but also requested technical police from the Criminal Police Team to examine them."

"Any clues?"

"The thief who boarded the ships is very cunning. We've examined several scenes but only found one blurry footprint without collecting a single fingerprint."

Zhao Hongxing took a deep breath and continued, "You might not believe it, but the scene investigation results suggest that it's likely the work of one person, who possibly swam from the shore to the ship at night, climbed aboard along the anchor chain, and then committed theft."

Han Yu was appalled: "Director Zhao, when was the last reported case?"

"Four days ago."

"Swimming to the ship in such cold weather?"

"At first, we thought it was unlikely; the water is so cold, it could be fatal."

"So how did you conclude the thief swam to the ship?"

"The Changhang Bureau received a report from a ship owner half a month ago. He got up in the middle of the night to relieve himself and groggily went out of the living cabin, then found someone standing at the edge of the ship. He was startled, and the person was startled too, and then jumped into the river and ran away."

Han Yu asked in a low voice, "What happened then?"

Zhao Hongxing explained, "Then he called for help, his son and the crew he hired got up, used searchlights and flashlights to look around, and found no Iron Dinghy near the river surface around their ship. The bow deck and the port side deck were wet, and there was water on the anchor chain too."

"Water Ghost, river thief!"

"Good in water, physically fit, Liu Guixiang said we've run into a river thief!"

"Liu Guixiang even gave that water thief a nickname, which means the Changhang Bureau is paying close attention to this series of thefts."

"Of course we're paying attention, just between the two of us there have already been seventeen incidents in the past few months."

Han Yu thought for a moment, then pursued further, "Did the crew who saw the water thief get a good look at his face?"

Zhao Hongxing said helplessly, "He was not fully awake at the time, groggy, just saw a person, couldn't make out the features, couldn't even describe the body shape clearly."

"Have either of you taken any measures?"

"We have, using the old method, organized forces to squat at several anchorage points on the river, squatting five times altogether, adding up to more than ten days. But with so many anchorages on the river, we can't cover everything with the few people we have."

"Have you asked the opposite bank?"

"We asked, the districts across the river have experienced thefts too, but not like this."

"So it seems this river thief is very familiar with this side, he should be one of us."

"Liu Guixiang and I think so too, because that bastard is so rampant, committing crimes consecutively, doesn't pay any attention to us police. We even asked several District County Police Departments along the line to help screen people who are good in water, physically fit, dare to go into the water in winter, and have criminal records, but nothing suspicious was identified."

We used the method of background checking too, and still found nothing.

Han Yu realized this case is very tricky, and suggested: "Director Zhao, although I've been transferred to the Smuggling Crime Investigation Bureau, I'm still police. That bastard not only doesn't pay attention to you, he doesn't pay attention to us either. How about we meet tomorrow to come up with a plan to catch this water thief?"

"Sure, are we meeting at our bureau or at Liu Guixiang's place?"

"Let's go to your place, Haoran said most of the thefts happened in the area under your bureau's jurisdiction, you should take the lead."

"Alright, I'll give Liu Guixiang a call."

...

Right after Han Yu hung up the phone, Xu Haoran couldn't hold back and asked, "San'er, Director Zhao and Liu Zhi can't do anything about that water thief, do you have any ideas?"

"I may not have great ideas, but I should be able to help."

"How?"

"From what Director Zhao just said, the water thief should be a local."

"But Director Zhao also mentioned they had asked several District County Police Departments to help screen."

"That's the key point."

Han Yu sat down, took a sip of tea, and explained, "The police forces in the District County Police Departments are all very stretched, everyone is busier than the next. If it were a murder case, they would definitely assist by doing a dragnet screening. But this isn't a murder case, it's just a series of thefts, so their level of concern is naturally different."

Xu Haoran suddenly realized, "They helped with screening, but it wasn't very thorough?"

"Security on the river is closely tied to security on the shore, ensuring river security relies on cooperation from colleagues on the shore, ensuring shore security also requires collaboration from us water police. The two of them usually don't interact much with colleagues on land; typically, they don't maintain relationships, and then ask favors from Old Zhang when there's trouble. How could those people treat their issues as their own?"

"If you step in, it'll be different, they'll give you face!"

"It's not about face, it's mainly because of the long-term relationships I've built with them over the years, we know each other well, and have good relations."

Last year, a few district counties sent backup troops to North Lake to assist Han Yu in flood rescue, some of whom were later "introduced" from Linghai, leading several district counties' top party and government officials to owe gratitude to Han Yu, making it conceivable that leaders from those District County Police Departments would similarly be inclined to give Han Yu face.

And as Han Yu mentioned, he's had dealings with these District County Police Departments for years, even if he doesn't approach the directors of the districts, contacting the responsible leaders and the directors of riverside police stations would work.

Xu Haoran hadn't seen Director Wang for a while, smiled and said, "San'er, if there's nothing pressing tomorrow, I'll go with you to the Water Police Station."

"Alright."

Han Yu nodded, then analyzed, "There are quite a few people good in water, but few who can go into water during the cold winter months. With the weather so cold, the river is icy and piercing, a normal person going into water won't last more than five minutes before the body goes numb from the cold."

Master Han, who had remained silent, raised his head and said, "Those who catch fish in the river during winter aren't afraid of the cold."

"Those people also fear the cold, they wear 'water clothes' when going into the river. Without 'water clothes', they wouldn't withstand it either."

"So it might be someone who swims in winter."

Han Yu laughed, "There are very few such people. As long as we investigate seriously, it shouldn't be hard to identify or capture them, the key is to have evidence."