Police capture scene, reported by Urban Times reporter Mingfei Qu. At 1 PM on November 27th, 2011, at the West Toll Station of Kunming, a car waiting in line to pay the toll was suddenly surrounded by several men, one of whom held a handgun and smashed the car window with the gun handle. However, the car managed to escape despite the astonished looks from the crowd. "Bang, bang," gunshots were heard from behind the car... This scene, akin to a movie plot, was actually the Kunming police capturing drug traffickers.
Recently, the eighth team of the Kunming Municipal Public Security Bureau's Anti-Drug Brigade successfully cracked a major case of armed transportation of drugs. Seven suspects were arrested, and they seized 34.5 kilograms (gross weight) of methamphetamine tablets (ice), one imitation Browning 7.65mm caliber pistol, one magazine, eight bullets, over 1.1 million yuan in drug money. They dismantled a drug trafficking group mainly composed of people from Shouming, who had been transporting drugs from the China-Myanmar border to Kunming for distribution, and destroyed a drug transportation channel from the China-Myanmar border to Kunming.
Yesterday, the police informed the media about the case investigation.
The drug dealers planned to quit after earning 10 million yuan.
In early November 2011, the eighth team of the anti-drug detachment received intelligence that a drug trafficking group led by Yunnan Shouming resident Mr. Yue had frequently transported drugs from abroad to Kunming for distribution. After receiving the lead, the detachment leadership took it very seriously and immediately instructed the eighth team to take action. Through extensive reconnaissance, they initially grasped the basic situation of the drug trafficking group.
Mr. Yue, 34 years old, is from Shouming County, Kunming. He had previously worked in earthwork engineering in Kunming but due to a broken capital chain and high-interest loans, he was unable to make ends meet. After selling his excavator, under the instigation of someone he knew overseas, he invited Yao and Cheng, who had previously worked with him on projects but had since fallen into gambling, to join him in the drug trade.
Starting from July-August this year, Yue and his group began small operations, reinvesting their earnings to buy more drugs instead of splitting them immediately. After months of accumulating like rolling snowballs, their scale reached a point where they could purchase 2.7 million yuan worth of drugs from abroad at once. "If this batch of drugs were transported to Kunming, the profit after sales could reach ten million yuan. The goal of Yue and others now is to stop once they earn ten million yuan," said Captain Yuan Bin of the eighth team of the anti-drug detachment.
Walking across the border to buy drugs
On November 25th, the special task force learned that the group was preparing to drive from Kunming to Myanmar to buy drugs.
Yuan Bin and three police officers drove overnight to Zhenkang. The next morning, Yuan Bin and his team arrived in Zhenkang and, together with local police, secretly conducted surveillance work.
Mr. Yue and his group drove towards the border, stopping about 20 kilometers away. Two members of the group got out of the car and walked along a small path, crossing the border to contact the waiting overseas personnel.
At around 2:30 AM on the 27th, the surveilling police noticed that the two cars driven by Yue and his group were heading towards Baoshan from Zhenkang. "Based on many years of investigative experience, we judged that the group had already purchased drugs from overseas and hidden them in the vehicles they were driving, preparing to return to Kunming." Yuan Bin also revealed that during the preliminary investigation, the police learned that the drug trafficking group might be carrying firearms.
Considering various factors including safety, the special task force decided, after research, to have investigators in Zhenkang County track the suspect vehicles while organizing police forces to wait at three points—"Kunming West Toll Station", "Anfengying Toll Station", and "Caopu Intersection"—to seize an opportunity to capture the returning group members.
Reconnaissance car observing front and back information
Generally speaking, if drug dealers use two cars to transport drugs, the front one is used for reconnaissance. Yue and his group were no exception. However, this reconnaissance car not only probed whether there were any police checkpoints ahead but also often circled around to observe whether there were any vehicles tracking behind.
Around 1 PM on November 27th, when the special task force police attempted to intercept the Volkswagen Lavida sedan transporting drugs at the Kunming West Toll Station, the suspects disregarded the police warning shots and forcibly broke through the checkpoint, colliding with and damaging a microcar waiting to pay the toll before escaping.
The police immediately pursued and successfully intercepted the vehicle at the entrance of the Provincial Party School, arresting suspect Li and seizing 34.5 kilograms of methamphetamine tablets (ice) from the car's trunk.
Meanwhile, another group of police discovered another SUV driven by suspects at the entrance of the Kunming West Toll Station. The police quickly surrounded the vehicle, but all four doors were locked. Officer Lin Su from the eighth team went to the rear of the car, opened the back door, jumped into the car, and firmly restrained a man in the passenger seat who was attempting to resist. At this time, Lin's colleagues had already shattered the car window and apprehended the SUV driver, the main culprit of the group, Mr. Yue.
Subsequently, Yue's wife Zhao, responsible for the group's finances, was also arrested, and the police found 30 grams of methamphetamine and some drug paraphernalia in her rented house.
After Yue's arrest, three other suspects involved in the case were still at large. After surveillance, the police separately captured co-defendants Li, Feng, and Cheng on December 2nd, 3rd, and 5th at the Walmart supermarket entrance in the northern district of Kunming, Nanhua County in Chuxiong Prefecture, and Room 1706 in a residential complex on Chuangjin Road in Kunming.
Currently, the case is under further review. (Reported by Wenjie Sun)