Driving a "law enforcement boat", wearing camouflage uniforms, posing as a "military police", violently robbing a tanker ... In May last year, a "black eat black" robbery case in the Taicang section of the Yangtze River waterway shocked the procurator of the Zhangjiagang Municipal People's Procuratorate in Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province, and did not expect that such an incredible case would occur on the Yangtze River today.
The investigation extended from the case will further expose the chaos of refined oil smuggling hidden behind this case. The Zhangjiagang Municipal Procuratorate found that there are many hidden dangers in the smuggling of refined oil products on the Yangtze River waterway, and the crackdown faces a series of difficult problems, which urgently need to be jointly managed by multiple departments.
Cases of smuggling of refined oil products occur from time to time
In the early morning of January 28, 2019, the "Zhenwei Oil 96" ship smuggling refined oil products shut down the AIS - ship identification system and sailed covertly on the Yangtze River. Suddenly, a "law enforcement boat" approached, and a group of men dressed in camouflage uniforms and claiming to be "military police" boarded the ship for "inspection", and put handcuffs and hoods on the crew, forcibly took them off the tanker, and then transported all the more than 400 tons of diesel fuel on board after passing through the barge.
This is a typical "black eating black" violent robbery case on the Yangtze River waterway, and no one has called the police. However, the Suzhou branch of the Yangtze River Shipping Public Security Bureau still captured the robbery information through special agents. At the same time, when the Wuxi Municipal Public Security Bureau handled another case involving organized crime, it also found clues that the relevant people involved in the case were plotting to rob.
In the end, the public security of the two places joined forces and arrested more than 20 people involved in the gangs involved. After interrogation and investigation, from August 2018 to May 2019, the gang carried out a total of 6 similar robberies, robbed more than 1,300 tons of smuggled diesel fuel, and sold more than 8 million yuan of profits.
"That's not all cases." Xu Jing, a procurator handling the case at the Zhangjiagang Municipal People's Procuratorate, said, "I learned from the main suspects that the reason why they carried out similar robberies was because they had also been robbed in this way before, but they did not call the police." ”
The case stemmed from the smuggling of refined oil products. The Zhangjiagang Municipal Procuratorate did not stop at the handling of the case, but extended it, in-depth investigation of the smuggling of refined oil products on the Yangtze River, and formed a report in August this year. The investigation and investigation of the Zhangjiagang Municipal Procuratorate shows that from the perspective of the crackdown by the public security organs, there have been cases of illegal transportation of refined oil products in shanghai, Nantong, Suzhou, Zhenjiang, and Nanjing, and there have been serious and extraordinarily serious cases. Among them, Suzhou alone seized 57 ships in 2019, seized more than 24,000 tons of smuggled refined oil, and the amount involved was 140 million yuan.
"This is just a seized case. According to the law of cockroaches, the number and value of illegal oil products that have successfully landed will only become more amazing. Xu Jing told the "Economic Reference News" reporter that during the investigation, the police handling the case of the Changhang public security organ told them that in the process of law enforcement, 6 oil tankers were randomly inspected, of which 4 were suspected of smuggling.
The cost of breaking the law is low, and the profits are staggering
Ding Jianqin, deputy procurator general of the Zhangjiagang Municipal Procuratorate, led a survey of the smuggling of refined oil products. According to its introduction, smuggled oil products are mainly transported from large oil tankers of more than 100,000 tons to the high seas near China, and then barge by medium and large ships into the mouth of the Yangtze River, and then by medium-sized, small, and micro ships repeatedly barge, along the river, in the form of ant moves, in the form of various small docks and temporary docks along the river, and finally flow to various gas stations or small factories and workshops.
The survey shows that the huge profits of refined oil smuggling are staggering, but the cost of violating the law is very low. Take a small oil carrier or modified ship of about 300 tons as an example, the price is about 500,000 yuan to 600,000 yuan, pull a ship of oil successfully ashore, the profit can reach 200,000 yuan to 300,000 yuan, even if the ship only has the risk of being seized, as long as it can be smuggled two or three times ashore can return the cost.
Ding Jianqin said that in recent years, the local public security in Suzhou has repeatedly carried out special operations to crack down on the smuggling of refined oil products, but illegal transportation, illegal operation and smuggling of refined oil products are still prohibited, and the cases are still in a high incidence situation, and the smuggling of refined oil products not only impacts the refined oil market, causing a large amount of national tax loss, but also brings many other hidden dangers.
The first is to threaten the safety of the Yangtze River route. The smuggling vessels on the Yangtze River are mostly medium-sized, small and miniature vessels, which often do not operate in the prescribed waterways, shuttle at will, stop and dock indiscriminately, and seriously threaten the normal passage of other vessels. Most of these ships choose to sail at night, and in order to avoid supervision, they often turn off the night navigation lighting equipment such as signal lights, emergency lights, and lighting lights, as well as the AIS system, so that other normal sailing ships cannot give electronic early warning and cannot avoid it in time.
The second is the breeding of secondary crimes. Judging from the case handled by the Zhangjiagang Municipal Procuratorate, the smuggling of refined oil products will not only bring about many illegal acts such as illegal transportation and illegal operation, but also breed "black eat black" robbery cases and provide criminal funds for triad organizations. According to reports, the reason why the Wuxi police intervened in the robbery case in the Taicang section of the Yangtze River waterway was that they found that a group of people who had completed their sentences were suddenly financially prosperous, and it turned out that they were hired to prepare to carry out robbery.
Third, there are safety hazards and pollution problems. In the smuggling of refined oil barge operations, most of them are "three noes" vessels, which have no qualifications, no professional barge equipment, no professional operation of shipwrights, and usually use modified "black refueling trucks" for transportation after landing, which is easy to cause safety accidents such as explosions and fires and oil leakage to pollute the environment. In addition, many smuggled refined oil products are inferior and over-standard oils, especially the sulfur content exceeds the standard by tens to hundreds of times, and a large number of polluting gases will be generated after combustion. On April 4, 2020, the public security organs of Changhang seized four oil tankers that illegally transported refined oil products, and after identification, the sulfur content of more than 2,100 tons of refined oil products carried exceeded the standard.
Cracking Down on Existing Difficulties Urgently needs joint governance
The investigation and investigation of the Zhangjiagang Municipal Procuratorate shows that from the incidence of cases in recent years, the smuggling of refined oil products has shown an increasingly fierce trend, which is related to a series of difficulties in prevention and crackdown.
First, it is found difficult to investigate and deal with. Kou Jiankun, director of the procuratorial department of the Zhangjiagang Municipal Procuratorate, said that on the one hand, most of the smuggled oil vessels have evaded supervision by means of night navigation and closing AIS; on the other hand, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River are wide, and the law enforcement force is insufficient, making it difficult to cover all waterways, giving lawbreakers an opportunity to take advantage of.
Second, it is difficult to collect evidence. In the process of smuggling refined oil products, the "boss behind the scenes" usually does not go on the ship, contacts the shipowner and the shipwright, and once the smuggling ship is seized, it immediately "breaks the tail to survive". Only dealing with ship owners and shipwrights cannot touch the fundamental interests of the "boss behind the scenes". In addition, the personnel involved in the case have a strong sense of anti-investigation, and when law enforcement personnel board the ship for inspection, they often throw the mobile phones and account books involved in the case into the river, increasing the difficulty of collecting evidence.
Third, it is difficult to crack down on joint efforts. In the process of smuggling refined oil products, from the offshore to the various sections of the Yangtze River, and then to the shore, it is supervised by different departments; transportation, sales, vehicle and vessel modification and other links are also managed by different departments, involving a total of more than ten functional departments, information sharing and joint law enforcement between various departments are difficult, and it is difficult to form a joint force.
Fourth, it is difficult to characterize the case. Although some transport vessels have been seized in the Yangtze River waterway, at this time the oil has entered the territory, the source is difficult to trace, whether the relevant personnel involved in the case constitute a criminal offense, and which crime is specifically applicable, there is no consensus at present. From the perspective of administrative violations, it also involves different laws and regulations, such as the Measures for the Administration of the Refined Oil Market, the Regulations on Road Transport, the Regulations on the Administration of The Transport of Dangerous Goods by Road, and the Regulations on the Safety Management of Hazardous Chemicals.
Fifth, it is difficult to dispose of property. After smuggling refined oil products and transport vessels are seized, it takes a lot of manpower, material and financial resources to dispose of them. Due to the long case handling cycle, law enforcement departments need to rent docks to dock ships containing refined oil products, and they must also be maintained frequently, otherwise the ships will be corroded and damaged, which may cause oil spills and pollute the environment. In addition, the parking time is too long, and a certain density of oil and gas mixture may be formed in the cabin, and there is a hidden risk of explosion.
In the face of this series of problems, the Zhangjiagang Municipal Procuratorate believes that while continuing to carry out special rectification of the refined oil market and guarding the first pass of entry and entry into the river, it should also establish and improve a joint investigation and handling coordination mechanism, establish an integrated law enforcement information sharing platform on the sea, on the water and on land, and inform each other of cases of smuggling of refined oil products on the sea, illegal transportation on the water, illegal transportation on land, etc., improve the pertinence and effectiveness of the crackdown, and at the same time clearly determine the standards for crimes and sentences, and enhance the deterrent power of judicial crackdowns.
Source: Economic Reference Newspaper