Car crashes, drug busts, online scams, illegal fund-raising and Lantern Festival mayhem have been keeping our forces busy over the past two weeks’ post-New Year celebrations.
Working on a drug-related tip off via Huai’an, Nanjing’s Gulou Police department tracked a suspect known as Zhu, from Sichuan to Nanjing, on suspicion of trafficking. Plainclothes police watched his movements along the way until they ambushed him in Nanjing, together with six others.
As part of the bust, police had found a purple bag stashed in an air conditioning unit outside a window that contained 600 grams of ice (methamphetamine), reported Sina News. The Nanjing Municipal Public Security Bureau’s Gulou Branch of Narcotics police officer, Wu Dongyao, told Sina reporters, “These people carried a tied-up cotton bag to a home without any other luggage; we suspected the drugs were hidden inside the bag”.
Police later found that their suspicions were correct, discovering four packaged tea bags loaded with ice, totalling 2,300 grams, estimated to be worth ¥450,000. Sichuan police later searched Zhu’s home whereupon six people were detained on suspicion of drug trafficking.
In related areas, it is not only drink driving that is a headache for police these days, as drug driving is also on the rise. Drug-driving accidents are said to be becoming a “serious problem”. Jiangsu Provincial Public Security Department has investigated a man that had just smoked an unspecified drug and was driving home when police pulled him over.
Police found two small packets of drugs in his car totalling 13 grams, in addition to “drug-taking tools”. After a urine test, the man tested positive for both ice and ecstasy, reported Sina News. The man remains in police custody.
A correspondent for The Nanjinger also revealed how he had been driving and stopped at the traffic lights at Hangzhong Men in Nanjing one evening when he witnessed the driver, a relatively young man in the car next to him, inhale from a large bong and exhale clouds of smoke in the seconds before driving off.
Elsewhere, Xinjiekou police yesterday received a call from a panicked Miss Zhou, claiming she had been swindled out of thousands of yuan. After receiving a text message advertising amazing prices for second hand LV handbags, Miss Zhou hastily clicked on a link within. Up popped “customer service” which instructed her she need to pay ¥6,000 in ”insurance” in order to purchase the bag. Zhou transferred the money via Alipay.
The perpetrator then informed her that since she was the first to use the service, she need transfer another ¥12,000. At the point, Zhou sensibly suspected something was up and checked her Alipay. Unfortunately, having already twice sent her QR code to customer service, Zhou realised that after the whole ordeal, she had indeed been cheated out of ¥18,000. Police advise the public not to click on unknown links.
This quickly into the new year, fraudsters are already rife, with people in the Nanjing vicinity such as real estate investment shark Pan Cuihua, recently prosecuted and sentenced to 5 years in prison and fined ¥100,000 for absorbing illegal funds.
As reported by Sina, Pan claimed to have “superior investment channels” and promised a monthly return on investment of 2 percent. In 3 years, he had accumulated a total of ¥45.55 million in funds. Pan began by introducing friends and friends of friends to her inner circle and subsequently borrowing money from them without any initial suspicions.
As per tradition, 2 weeks after Spring Festival we celebrate Lantern Festival. Every year Nanjingers flock to Confucius Temple in order to take part in the celebrations, with this year reportedly seeing record numbers of people attending the Qinhuai Lantern Festival.
The Municipal Government and the Municipal Urban Management Bureau, the city’s urban management law enforcement team, formed groups to patrol the area and keep people safe. Sina reported that police are making use of 4G and GPS real-time maps, in order to provide an electronic fence of alarm procedures.
For the first time, the Urban Management Team has selected the best English speaking members of law enforcement and has assigned them to the English Service team. Specifically designed to serve foreign tourists, these officers are waiting in order to assist at 18 designated posts around the temple.
To top it all off, a man in Lishui District’s Fungsun Village, who had answered his phone while driving, proceeded to drive his car off the road and into a reservoir. No one was hurt, while police remind citizens not to use mobile phones while driving.
