Secret Contest in
Crowds Gongbei Port has seized more than 140 hidden smuggling cases on average every month. How can customs officers find out smugglers from the crowd?
Text and photos / Guangzhou Daily all-media reporter Chen Zhijia correspondent Liu Wen, Yu Bo
From the map, Macau is like a lotus flower reaching out to the South China Sea, blooming on the blue waves of the motherland.
The root of the lotus is Gongbei Port, where 300,000 people flow through the Joint Inspection Building connecting Zhuhai and Macau every day.
Under the rising sun, the Gongbei Port with strong ethnic style is like an ancient palace with extraordinary momentum, majestic and solemn.
On the square in front, the golden characters "Zhuhai Special Economic Zone is good" are shining brightly.
In 2011, the number of inbound and outbound passengers at Gongbei Port exceeded 100 million for the first time, making it the largest travel inspection port in China and even in Asia.
In this 85,000-square-meter building, nearly 1,000 state staff in different uniforms are busy and orderly.
In the 22 years since Macau's return, the number of inbound and outbound tourists has exceeded 2 billion.
Chaoqi Bay Area, integrated development, innovation and entrepreneurship, learning and tourism, living in the twin cities... Lingding Ocean is full of vitality.
The turbulent crowd has brought infinite vitality to the two places, and is also regarded as a "barrier" for smuggling by some lawbreakers.
The "Shui Ke" disguised themselves and roamed it in various ways. The gate customs stationed here has thus become the front line of combating "Shui Ke" smuggling.
The crowds are surging, and "water offenders" are also among them. There are various smuggling methods. The gate customs stationed here has become the front line to combat the smuggling of "water offenders".
Recently, the reporter learned from Gongbei Customs that more than 140 hidden smuggling cases were seized at Gongbei Port every month. How does the customs officer find out the smugglers from hundreds of thousands of people every day?
Let us follow a pair of master and apprentice partners among the thousands of national guards, walk into the Gongbei port travel inspection and anti-smuggling scene, and directly attack the front line of travel inspection and anti-smuggling.
Port "Water Man"
At Gongbei Port, passengers who pass through customs do not want to smuggle by chance, because customs supervision is everywhere.
In the customs supervision area of Gongbei Port, there are "patrol eyes" that keep an eye on smugglers, there are "patrol eyes" that intercept and check the passage, there are "image recognition eyes" that judge images in front of the X-ray machine, there are "motor eyes" that adapt to changes, and there are luggage items locked His "inspection eyes", and a pair of sharp eyes are distributed in different supervisory positions. Lao Chen is one of the inspection officers.
Lao Chen transferred to Gongbei Customs three years ago. He has been doing "animal and plant quarantine" for most of his life. Due to the merger of the Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau and the Customs, he moved to the front line of Gongbei Port when he was 50 years old and became a port "water man".
On normal days, the average daily passenger flow at Gongbei Port is 300,000 people, and at the peak from 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm, there are as many as 20,000 passengers passing by him every hour.
Although it is close at hand, in order to successfully intercept a smuggling act from the crowd, you need to develop a strong ability.
Persistent physical strength, keen eyesight, precise judgment, and rich experience in investigation... all are indispensable.
These, for the old Chen of the year of destiny, are all tests.
But Lao Chen refused to accept the old, "Revolutionaries are always young".
If you are used to sitting in the office, your physical strength is not enough, and your back and legs are sore after standing for a while, so you should step up your exercise.
When I got up in the morning, I started to run for a few hundred meters and I was out of breath.
Persevere, grit your teeth and persist.
From jogging to fast running, I have increased by 1 km every day, rain or shine, and now I can run 3 km in one breath.
A shift of more than two hours, without rest every second, he has always walked steadily, with agile skills and bright eyes.
Colleagues admire his "youthful vigor", he always said: "Thoughts are the guide to action, and wearing this uniform, I believe that feeling the same as everyone else, it is a kind of responsibility and responsibility. Protecting the country's gate is a particularly meaningful task. At work, I always urge myself not to forget my original intention and keep my mission in mind.”
It is not easy to "change lanes" in the middle of life and pass the "professional level" well.
Lao Chen's WeChat name is just one word - "learning"!
In his spare time, he studies, and when he comes home from get off work, he does not forget to study and work. His family laughs at him that he has become a "good student" in the "year of destiny".
Taking breaks to study, looking for compilations, flipping through materials, and pulling colleagues to discuss cases together.
Tens of thousands of images of luggage items passing through the aircraft, carefully compared one by one, studying the display forms of different items, until you can recognize "what is what" at a glance.
"When you arrive at a new position, you should acquire new knowledge and new skills." His love for work attracted him to "recharge" and "empower" eagerly.
His dedication to the profession made him become "a belly of poetry and books, and his ears and eyesight" in a short period of time.
In-depth practice, diligently cultivate "internal skills".
Familiar with intelligent control equipment such as intelligent image review and face recognition, it can help "fast and manageable".
Special actions, resolutely implemented; post tasks, fully claimed; division of labor, efficient coordination.
Tens of thousands of "observation", ten million "lessons analysis", ten million "scenario rehearsal"...Learning, thinking, understanding, and doing, you have practiced "sharp eyes", practiced "quick decision", practiced "Waterproof".
Nothing is unachievable.
On average, Gongbei Port has seized more than 140 hidden smuggling cases every month, many of which are attributed to him. Since he moved to Gongbei Port, he has personally uncovered more than 100 "water passenger" smuggling cases.
Xiao Chen, a "new customs officer" who often works with him, was lucky enough to meet this "master".
After Xiao Chen fought with Lao Chen for more than a month, he became well-known in the "circle".
Colleagues often praise the new little girl, who found dozens of hidden cases and "found them as soon as they started working."
But Xiao Chen knew in his heart that the excellent style of his masters and seniors set a good example for himself and provided an inexhaustible source of learning and growth for young people.
Panicked "pregnant woman"
"The color of the clothes is deep and wide, the eyes are dodging, and the backpack is heavily deformed. It is worth noting. There is a high probability that this backpack has 'goods'!" His gaze penetrated the bustling crowd.
After locking in the target, Old Chen and Xiao Chen worked closely together, one kept their eyes on the passengers, and the other carefully checked the images of the luggage passing through the plane.
"The appearance can be disguised, but the X-ray machine will not deceive people. There are 6 bottles of wine in this backpack!" Xiao Chen said immediately, "This gentleman in black, please cooperate with the customs inspection."
Hearing the voice, the young man suddenly quickened his pace and squeezed into the crowd, trying to escape.
Before he ran two meters, he was stopped by an arm wearing an isolation suit. It was Lao Chen!
"When he put the luggage into the X-ray machine, his eyes were looking left and right. It should be a plan to escape. I went to the passage ahead of time to prevent him from escaping!"
Reading the documents, opening the package for inspection... Until Lao Chen took out a whole box of red wine hidden in his backpack, the calmness on the face of the Macau man surnamed Kong finally collapsed, "I don't know anything! It's not mine. Someone was over there (the Macau border gate) and asked me to bring it here."
"Holding a Macao Resident Pass, multiple round trips within 15 days, and records of customs penalties, typical 'water passengers'." Such people can be seen every day by Mr. Chen and his apprentice. They are employed by smuggling gangs to obtain a single transportation. In return, the smuggled items will be broken down into parts in the form of "ant moving".
Xiao Chen admires the master's accurate prediction every time, "Master and seniors have done a lot of data research and judgment, case analysis, business seminars, sorted out the characteristics of smuggling and entry activities of 'water passengers', and constructed the types of passengers, customs clearance characteristics, High-risk parameters such as gang smuggling methods.”
But the road is one foot high, and the devil is one foot high.
With the continuous enhancement of the customs investigation force, the smuggling activities are also constantly changing. The most hidden method is "hiding", which is also the field of investigation that Lao Chen is best at.
The so-called "hidden" refers to the hiding method of entangling the items involved in the case around the waist, between the legs or in the underwear, trying to avoid customs supervision.
"We have more experience in hiding in the 'Shui Ke', stronger on-the-spot response, and rigorous language in answering questions. Therefore, our vision must be more accurate, and our inquiries must be stronger!" In the case seized by the master and apprentice, the involved Most of the items are mobile phones.
At 11:45 a.m. on August 18, 2021, a young woman with a big belly walked straight to the gate from passage 3.
The documents show that it is a tourist visa from Heilongjiang.
"Why don't you bring any luggage with you when you are pregnant? No family to accompany you?" Lao Chen asked with concern, but the passenger seemed very nervous, "I'm a pregnant woman anyway."
The unreasonable answer made Lao Chen suspect that there was a fraud.
After careful observation, the hands and face are not swollen, and the bulging part of the belly is obviously deviated from the center of the navel.
Lao Chen immediately signaled the female customs officer to check.
Sure enough, the "pregnant belly" is actually a silicone disguise, and 16 new mobile phones are hidden in it.
"It's hard to see through this kind of niche and new modus operandi, but the master is very careful and has sharp eyes!" Xiao Chen sincerely admires, "Master has solved many major cases, the 'wheelchair smuggling case' on September 19, 2021 It is also worth learning.”
Back to that day, between 6:00 and 8:00 in the morning, six or seven wheelchairs came to pass the border in a row at the port hall. Thinking of the intelligence information recently obtained, Lao Chen immediately raised his vigilance.
There was no abnormality in the inspection of the luggage, but after looking at the documents, it was an "object of concern". The passenger had a record of being investigated and dealt with by the customs many times at Shenzhen Luohu Port.
The inspection of the disabled is particularly interesting.
There were many guests in the closed area, and Xiao Chen was under a lot of pressure at that time.
Scanning the wheelchair like a radar, a small trace of paint falling off was particularly fresh. Old Chen immediately concluded that the car had just been refitted.
"Please pull the wheelchair aside and wait for the inspection."
There was a trace of nervousness on the face of the person involved, and this momentary change was keenly captured by Lao Chen.
"This wheelchair is not mine. Someone... changed it for me. I don't know what's in it, really!"
After hearing this, the stone pressing on Old Chen's heart finally fell to the ground.
When the wheelchair was disassembled, one of the two batteries was "stolen and replaced", and 214 mobile phones were stacked on top of each other.
"Your wheelchair will be temporarily detained as a crime tool. Please give us the phone number and ask your family to pick you up."
Unexpectedly, the passenger miraculously stood up quickly and ran out of the closed area "with a swipe"...
"Shui Ke" emerges in an endless stream of wonderful tricks, which further arouses the fighting spirit of "apprentice" Xiao Chen.
There are no weak soldiers under the strong generals, and they have been on the job for more than 40 days. Xiao Chen, a new customs officer, has repeatedly found hidden cases. The most recent one was the day before yesterday: a mainland woman, Jiang, was wearing a wide skirt as cover, tied around her waist and between her legs. Hide 36 iPhones.
"Not only are they hidden in the waist and legs, but the two passengers we seized two days ago actually hid their mobile phones in the hollowed-out heels and stepped on them!" Only from October to November 2021, customs at the gates found passengers carrying illegally , The number of smuggled mobile phones has reached more than 10,000 units.
In the face of the smuggling of "water offenders" ants moving house, the gate customs has increased the deployment of manpower, and implemented orderly disposal by division and subsection; accurately locked the movement trajectory of the target person, grasped the new trend of "water officinal" smuggling, and attacked "water offenders" with heavy blows. guest" smuggling.
The collision of love and law
Smugglers are hidden among a large number of passengers. The customs should not only strengthen the law enforcement efforts to crack down on illegal crimes, but also improve the service temperature to speed up customs clearance.
What kind of attitude should be used to complete the proposition of "1+1 is greater than 2" will test Xiao Chen, who is a new entry.
For her, luggage inspections and interviews with passengers are particularly careful.
The resistance, non-cooperation, or even momentary anger of the passengers due to the sudden random inspection, especially the anger, verbal insults, and even personal threats brought by the "water passenger" when she was precisely locked... may attack her at any time. Come.
What happened on the evening of November 19, 2021, makes Xiao Chen still fresh in his memory.
"At that time, a Macau tourist was checked for carrying excess items. At first, he fell to the ground and refused to cooperate. Later, he sat on the customs inspection table and slapped the customs officers with his hands. He was hysterical and kept threatening and intimidating. "In the end, when the persuasion was ineffective, the 110 police arrived at the scene and took the passenger who disturbed the order at the scene back to the police station for processing.
Faced with the resistance of the passengers to be checked, what makes Xiao Chen even more aggrieved is the doubts from them.
"The master is in his 50s. He has been on the post for two or three hours. He often wears a mask and often has no time to drink water. From time to time, he is misunderstood by passengers, saying that I am not uncomfortable, which is false." How to maintain the balance between law enforcement and service , is a major issue that Xiao Chen has always needed to think about in his law enforcement career.
"I will learn from my masters and seniors and be an excellent national guard."
At this time, Lao Chen was patiently explaining the latest policy announced by the customs to an old couple.
Compared with Xiao Chen, who just entered the industry, his mentality is calm and firm.
"If it's a passenger who doesn't understand, then we'll explain it well. If it's a threat and intimidation by lawbreakers, then we must not back down from our responsibilities. It's our duty to maintain port order and combat smuggling."
This is also a microcosm of the gate customs team that sticks to Gongbei port for 365 days. On the front of anti-smuggling, they always maintain a charging attitude.