Brigade shrugs off danger to stop influx of illegal drugs

Officers in Yunnan province put their lives on the line when patrolling the border to prevent traffickers from bringing narcotics into China. Yang Zekun reports.

The winding country roads and mountain routes in the forests that cross Baoshan, a city on China's border with Myanmar in the southwestern province of Yunnan, link the country with South and Southeast Asia. However, they are also the battlegrounds between the mobile antidrug brigade of the Baoshan Public Security Bureau and drug traffickers.

The city is just 120 kilometers from the "Golden Triangle", an area comprising parts of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar that is infamous for drug production and trafficking.

Due to Baoshan's location, two of the seven most important drug trafficking routes identified by the National Narcotics Control Commission pass through the city.

In the 1980s, Yunnan was used as a transshipment route, where drugs were smuggled into China. In February 2002, the Baoshan authorities established the nation's first mobile antidrug brigade to minimize the influx.

Since its inception, the brigade's officers have patrolled all types of roads day and night to detect drug traffickers. In the 20 years since the brigade was established, it has cracked a drug trafficking case every three days on average, arrested a related suspect every two days and seized an average of 496 grams of drugs every day, according to the bureau's statistics.

In that period, it also confiscated 3.577 metric tons of drugs and arrested more than 3,600 dealers, accounting for more than 50 percent of the total narcotics confiscated in the city over many years.

Comprehensive skills

Li You, a brigade member for 14 years, said that carrying out inspections and seizing drugs in public places requires comprehensive skills, such as learning to read emotions on people's faces and getting information by chatting with traffickers posing as members of the general public.

Li said that he can usually spot potential suspects just by glancing at a crowd, noting the person's demeanor, evasive looks, haggard appearance, dry lips and breath. Further examination usually proves his suspicions right.

He recalled that the first time he checked a bus on his own, he was afraid to speak loudly and his voice even trembled slightly.

He said he solved his first trafficking case "accidentally", when a female passenger was unable to produce identification documents or provide her ID number when questioned.

When Li asked her to get out of the bus for further checks, his female colleagues discovered more than 1.5 kilograms of heroin in her underwear, pants' legs and the hollowed-out soles of her shoes.

"At the time, I really wanted to ask her why she was smuggling drugs, and where and how she had got them," he said.

Over time, he has become better at detecting suspects and his observation skills have improved. He has also seen the different types of people involved in the crime, such as pregnant women and people who may seem honest but turn nasty when detained.

In many untargeted investigations, drugs and traffickers are often discovered without warning. Sometimes the brigade detains two or three groups of traffickers a day, while sometimes the officers work until midnight but find nothing.

"We can't guard every road in the city 24 hours a day — drug seizures are only a part of our mission. As long as we are patrolling the roads, that's a deterrent to drug dealers," Li Quanbang, captain of the brigade, said.

Safety is paramount

For Li Quanbang, nothing is more important than the safety of his team members as their work is often very dangerous.

During an operation in 2018, Li and his colleagues thought a suspect was unarmed, but he pulled out a handgun and shot at them. Even though no officers were hurt, they realized that they had underestimated the suspect.

For brigade member Yang Shufei, danger came on Nov 7, 2008, as he was checking buses and cars at a toll booth and noticed a suspicious backpack on the luggage rack of a bus.

When he checked the backpack, he found a package taped inside and asked "Whose luggage is this?" Suddenly, a man in the front row jumped up and ran off the bus.

Yang followed, calling for backup as he ran. Eventually, as Yang and three colleagues surrounded the suspect in a field, the man pulled out a switchblade but Yang managed to throw him to the ground and subdue him.

However, when Yang unbuttoned his shirt cuffs immediately afterward, he realized that blood was running down his arms, soaking his clothes.

By the time an ambulance arrived, Yang had passed out due to loss of blood. Surgeons managed to save his life, but he still carries a distinct scar on his left arm.

In Yang's opinion, a scar is nothing. His colleague Chen Zhongzhang sustained a head injury during a fight with drug dealers that required many stitches. Sadly, Chen later died in a car accident while investigating a major drug case.

"Danger may happen at any time in the line of duty. Some dealers step on the gas and try to rush through inspections, some have guns and shoot at us, and some suspects have infectious diseases and carry prepared needles to stab us when we are not looking," Yang said.

Li Quanbang said the brigade's members do not flinch when they encounter danger, so before every mission he makes a point of reminding them to be careful.

"We are all flesh and blood and have families to support, so it is impossible not to consider the dangers," he said.

"I require brave team members, but they don't need to rush into unknown danger — they need to be calm and rational when tackling criminals."

In May, the brigade was honored as a "National Model Public Security Unit", so Li Quanbang traveled to Beijing to receive the award as the team's representative.

It was the first time he had visited the capital, and he modestly referred to himself as "a courier" who was just there to bring the award back to his team in Baoshan.

Contact the writer at yangzekun@chinadaily.com.cn