Rebirth 2014: I, the King of Criminal Investigation

Chapter 617 We Did Our Best

"Then one time the surveillance system broke down, so I removed all the cameras and prepared to replace them with a new one."

The middle-aged man continued:

"But in the two days we were waiting for the new equipment to be mailed, the number of customers suddenly increased."

"After that, I simply stopped installing surveillance cameras. The new surveillance equipment I bought is just sitting in the house, ready to be installed whenever someone comes to check."

Good people aren't afraid of being monitored.

Yu Dazhang certainly knew why the pawnshop had seen an increase in customers even after the removal of surveillance cameras.

People who think about using pawnshops to exchange their money are basically doing so for short-term cash flow.

Another method is: receiving stolen goods.

The security camera at the entrance acts like a guardian deity, deterring those with guilty consciences from entering.

"What I want to know is information about this person," Yu Dazhang said, waving the photo in his hand.

The reason we found this place is because this man has a criminal record.

The pawnbroking business is not something that just anyone can do. Given this man's background, if Tan Rui comes to the city looking for someone to sell stolen goods, he will most likely come here.

In fact, these were selected after screening and investigation.

"I'll take a look."

The middle-aged man took the photo from Yu Dazhang again, examined it carefully, and nodded:

“He came to me for advice. At the time, he seemed to be asking about the specific methods for trading some items of unknown origin.”

His gaze remained fixed on Tan Rui in the photo:

"I didn't dare to do business with this person because I thought he was an ordinary person."

Finally, he added:

"The pawnbroking business is supposed to be about judging the goods, but it's really about judging the people. If you don't have the ability to judge people, you'll get burned sooner or later."

This shows that Tan Rui is a policeman... Yu Dazhang couldn't help but admire the sharp eyesight of the middle-aged man in front of him.

He didn't even realize it when he first met Tan Rui.

The man's meaning was clear: he was afraid that Tan Rui was a police sting operation, so he dared not take the other party's business rashly.

"You didn't say anything to him?" Yu Dazhang asked in a deep voice.

Upon hearing this, the man glanced at Lü Zhongxin standing to the side. He couldn't explain why, but he always felt that the older policeman was more intimidating.

Clearly, that shout just now has left him with psychological trauma.

“I marked the lanes for him.”

The middle-aged man inadvertently uttered a slang term, but quickly realized what he meant:
"No, I mean, I gave him advice."

“I told him that there are also some smugglers in the city who specialize in collecting things of dubious origin.”

At this point, he subconsciously lowered his voice:
"They only look at the goods, not the people."

"No matter how difficult the goods are, they dare to accept them, and they never ask about their origin."

After hearing this, the master and apprentice exchanged a glance.

As criminal investigators, they certainly knew who the man meant by "the one carrying the bag."

If most pawnshops are legitimate businesses, then those people there are the ones who specialize in selling stolen goods.

The black market is also supported by these people, and they have a lot of cash on hand. As long as the goods are genuine, they can pay up.

"And then you became the middleman?" Yu Dazhang pressed.

"No, no," the middle-aged man waved his hands repeatedly, hurriedly denying it.
"I just mentioned it briefly. I never do things like building bridges, and I don't know any of those who carry burdens."

He sighed:
“In the past, I was involved with all sorts of shady people when I was doing business, and as a result, I got dragged into things without even realizing it.”

He paused for a moment, then said thoughtfully:

"But I estimate that once that person finds out, he will inquire at other pawnshops, and there will definitely be people who want to make some money as a middleman."

"That's still related to you..." Yu Dazhang glared at him.

It's these seasoned veterans who are the most hateful.

Giving unsolicited advice to others and then washing one's hands of the matter. The situation is quite clear now.

Tan Rui must have then contacted those professional receivers of stolen goods from other pawnshop colleagues.

They know what happened next: they exchanged two million in cash, with each family receiving 500,000.

After leaving the pawnshop, the master and apprentice got into a police car.

"The trail has gone cold."

Yu Dazhang sighed:
“Those in this line of work don’t do things without profit, so the person who introduced Tan Rui to the receiver of stolen goods must have taken a commission.”

"Actually, this is also hush money. They took the money, so naturally they didn't dare to admit that they were the middlemen."

The middle-aged man who spoke out earlier did so in order to get rid of one or two of his colleagues through the police.

Those who secretly "smuggled in" were actually stealing his business.

"This is indeed a difficult situation."

Upon hearing this, Lü Zhongxin nodded in deep agreement:

“In this situation, we can only investigate and visit people. If the person in the know deliberately hides the truth, then it will be very difficult to find any clues.”

"And even if we find clues..."

He stopped before he could finish speaking.

Because he believed his apprentice would know what he was going to say next.

Once these people who sell stolen goods receive a big order, they will hide for a period of time.

So even if you find a middleman, you may not be able to find the person who sold the stolen goods.

"No matter what, we did our best."

Yu Dazhang's tone became more relaxed:
"The hostages were rescued safely, and all the suspects were arrested. I met with the victim's family at the hospital yesterday, and they didn't seem too concerned about the ransom."

The ransom was paid by the victim's family, so they were pursuing the ransom on behalf of the victim.

Now that even the victims don't care anymore, their pressure has naturally decreased a lot.

Moreover, whether the ransom can be found largely depends on the outcome of the subsequent interrogation.

Why not use police dogs to search?
Police dogs can indeed track by scent, but they are not omnipotent.

The difficulty of tracking increases significantly, especially in non-urban environments such as the wild and forests.

Actually, the sense of smell isn't very useful in the wilderness.

To put it simply, if dogs' noses were really that good, tomb raiders wouldn't need to locate burial sites; they could just get a few German Shepherds to sniff out the graves—that would be so much easier.

In fact, tomb raiders throughout history have never done this.

Another two days passed.

The case remains largely unsolved.

On the interrogation side, the suspects were very cooperative, answering all questions, and after repeated verification, what they said was indeed the truth.

But whenever the ransom was mentioned, they said they didn't know.

Only Tan Mou admitted that he lost the gold while riding his motorcycle.

It took three whole days to finish, and in the end, even the people conducting the preliminary review got annoyed.

To be fair, none of them were lying; of the five, only Tan Rui knew where the gold was.

The problem is that Tan Mou denies giving the gold to his younger brother.

However, the police could not produce any evidence that Tan Rui had hidden gold. Although Yu Dazhang's deduction was reasonable, it remained only at the hypothetical stage.

A large team.

"Master, the lead from the pawnshop has gone cold."

Yu Dazhang looked at Lü Zhongxin and said with a helpless expression:

"I estimate that during the investigation phase, it's highly unlikely that this money will be found."

(End of this chapter)