Hello everyone! I'm Xiao Wu, welcome back to brain hole utopia.
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Shortly after the founding of the People's Republic of China, in 1954, the China-Soviet Railway opened a train K19 between Beijing and Moscow, known as the Dongfang. It is the earliest transnational train in China. However, this train is not as famous as the k3 train, which opened five years later.
The K3 train has been in operation since 4 June 1959 and has been in operation for 61 years. It passes through China, Mongolia, Russia and other countries, across the Eurasian continent, the whole journey is 7819 kilometers, the journey time is close to 6 days and 6 nights, the return code is k4, and it is known as the "first train in China". Along the way, you can enjoy various scenery, such as the Xilin Gol Steppe, the Mongolian Gobi Desert, the Siberian Forest and much more. The ticket price of the premium box is more than 6,000 yuan, which is more expensive than the discounted ticket from Beijing to Moscow. On this train, there are not only beautiful scenery along the way, but also many legends. Today, I will share with you the great robbery that occurred on this train in 1993.
In the early 1990s, the Soviet Union had just collapsed, social unrest, economic recession, and Russia had almost no light industry at all. China has just experienced more than a decade of reform and opening up, the economy is developing rapidly, and all kinds of commodities are dazzling. Not to mention home appliances, clocks, clothes, shoes and hats, that is, to take a box of matches from China to sell in Russia, are sought-after goods. In addition, in 1992, the private entrepreneur Mou Zhong exchanged 500 trucks of goods for 4 Soviet Tutu-154 aircraft in Russia. Word of the matter quickly spread in the country. The media also referred to the incident as a "can-for-plane." Many people may have been inspired by Mou Zhong, and at that time, a perfect international trading system was not established, so a trade came into being, that is, the international grandfather. The K3 international train has become the most important means of transportation for these inverted masters. A pourer can sometimes carry seven or eight boxes of goods. Because they are scarce materials, these goods are not only not worried about selling, but even the price is casual. A leather jacket that costs more than 100 yuan can buy three thousand rubles, equivalent to six or seven hundred yuan, as soon as you get it. When I returned from Russia, I brought back some famous local cigarettes and jewelry, and continued to pour them after returning home. Just like this, you can become a ten-thousand-dollar household after a trip. At that time, ten thousand yuan households were considered rich people.
But such a seemingly profitable business is not without risk. There is a huge loophole in the Sino-Russian transnational train. According to the regulations of the two countries, the Chinese police cannot enter Russia at will, and the Chinese police on the train will get off at the border. There are no police on Russian trains. If something happens in the middle of the train, it can only be solved by waiting for the next stop to arrive at the station, passing by the local police. In addition, under Russian law, suspects can only be detained for up to 4 hours. After that, if there is no further evidence, the person must be released. Many of the passengers who were robbed on the train were afraid to identify them for fear of retaliation in the future. Over time, the Russian police did not care about China. In this way, this 6-day and 6-night train became a criminal paradise. At that time, there was a saying that there were two most common types of people who took the K3 train. One is the scalper who resells the goods, and the other is the robber who specializes in robbing the deceased.
On May 26, 1993, the K3 train followed the scheduled itinerary and left the border of Erenhot late at night and pierced into the vast Mongolian steppe. Soon, a group of robbers who had been waiting for a long time burst out of several private cars in the middle of the train. The leading robber was named Xiao Jun, with a full beard. He shouted at his men, "Brothers, the mask is put on and you're ready to go!" The robbers were armed with gas guns, daggers, long sticks and other weapons, and under the leadership of the small army, a group of people quickly divided into two groups and broke into various boxes and began to rob. It took more than ten hours from Zamenwud to Ulaanbaatar, and the robbers almost ransacked the valuables on the car. A female passenger from Zhejiang was even brutally raped twice. At noon on May 27, the robbers led by Xiao Jun got out of Ulaanbaatar and returned with their looted goods, jewelry, and cash, fully loaded. Just when the passengers were in a state of panic, late at night on the 27th, the second bad luck quietly came.
At 23:30 that night, the train stopped at Ilanskaya Station for 20 minutes. In another wave, the criminal gang led by Zhu Xingjin and Zhao Jinhua rushed to the car. Zhu Xingjin, nicknamed "Zhu San". Zhao Jinhua is called "second sister". They are not only the leaders of this gang of robbers, but also a cohabiting couple. After the last round of looting, the passengers on the train had nothing of value on them. But Zhao Jinhua instructed his subordinates that even if it was squeezed, it would be necessary to squeeze out some oil and water for me. She ordered two of her men, armed with high-pressure batons, to beat up the two female passengers and then told them to take off their underwear. Sure enough, the last bit of money they used for emergency use was found in the underwear of the two female passengers. In the other compartment, four passengers, no matter how they were punched and kicked, said that they did not have a penny on them. Zhao Jinhua, who was angry and demoralized, called his man Zhu Xingjin and shouted, "The money can't be snatched, what are you waiting for?" The female passenger in the box was cruelly insulted by Zhu Xingjin. The vicious Zhao Jinhua even did not hesitate to let his man rape other women.
Zhao Jinhua was originally a clothing seller at the Xidan Hundred Flowers Market in Beijing. That is, more than a year ago, she heard that the "upside down" was very profitable, so she spent money to come to Russia in the name of self-funded study. In the early 1990s, with a little money, you could get a lot of invitations to Russian pheasant universities, so it was not surprising that the "fallen grandfathers" carried international student visas. In fact, it would have been possible to make a fortune by reselling goods. However, some of the grandfathers, after having money, began to frequent the casinos in Moscow. Soon lost. They were not willing to start from scratch and start all over again, so they started this business of robbing the house. Zhao Jinhua is one of these people. In the beginning, she was still a small role in the robber gang, but she was still a small role of pouring tea and water. However, this woman is ambitious and fierce. Later, he became the mistress of the bandit leader Zhu Xingjin, and his status in the bandit's nest also began to rise sharply.
On May 31, 1993, the K3 train entered Russia, and what the exhausted passengers on the train did not expect was that another wave of robbers led by Newton boarded the train. At this time, Zhu Xingjin and Zhao Jinhua and their gang were still in the car. They haven't fished enough oil and water, and they won't go down so easily.
I thought that the two gangs would clash because of food grabs, but they did not expect that they not only knew each other, but also had a set of conventional "road" rules. After the Newton gang got into the car, they found Zhu Xingjin in the front of the car, so they ordered their own men to start looting from the rear of the car. This is not the first time that the gang has worked together like this. Before, they even colluded with each other to find out who had money on the train and who brought what goods. The bandits looked for a face, made a look, and began to divide their work and cooperate. It can be said that there is quite a tacit understanding.
At this time, some young passengers on the train could not stand the atrocities of the gangsters and wanted to rise up. In one carriage, a young man living in the upper bunk smashed Zhu Xingjin to the head with a beer bottle. The other passengers in the carriage rushed to help, drove several bandits out of the box, and blocked the door. "Second Sister" Zhao Jinhua took a look at this posture and led more than a dozen of his men around the door of the box and began to smash the door with iron rods. The passengers in the compartment knew that if the door was pried open by the bandits, they were likely to lose their lives. In a hurry, the four passengers smashed the glass of the window and ventured to jump out of the car. Fortunately, shortly after entering the Russian border, the train was not fast. After jumping out of the car, the passengers ran towards the birch forest not far away. Unexpectedly, zhao jinhua, who was mad and mad, actually pulled down the emergency brake valve of the train. In the midst of a roar, the train came to a halt. Zhao Jinhua jumped off the train with a group of robbers and chased after him in the direction of the birch forest. In this way, in broad daylight, three of the four passengers were beaten to the ground by bandits with sticks, and one of them was stabbed in the body. Fortunately, after the bandits left, nearby residents found the wounded and took them to the hospital.
From May 26 to 31, 1993, during the six-day and six-night journey, the transnational train was sacked three times, becoming a nightmare for tens of millions of passengers. From the front to the rear of the train, no passenger in a single carriage escapes the doom. When the train arrived at Bui station, the local police received a report and boarded the train, and the bandits slipped off the train and returned to Moscow.
In fact, for most Chinese businessmen living in Moscow at the time, the months of early 1993 were a nightmare. Four criminal gangs, including Xiao Jun, Newton, Zhu Xingjin, Zhao Jinhua and others, frequently robbed Chinese businessmen in Moscow. They were familiar with the hotels where merchants who came to do business in the area stayed. Which day, which room lives in the new person, what goods they carry, when they sell out of goods, get the money, these are all clear. The criminal gang saw the opportunity, rushed into the room, beat him badly, and then snatched everything of value. For a time, people were panicked, and many merchants blocked the door to death when they stayed in the store. Whoever comes to call the door will not open. However, even so, the power of these bandits has rapidly expanded and become a tumor in the Russian-Chinese business circle. Because most of the 'fallen masters' who went to Moscow to do business could not speak Russian, they did not dare to call the police when something happened. In addition, the Russian police did not care much about Chinese. In this way, the bandits thought that they could really be lawless.
The k3 train ransack was the culmination of the bandits' arrogance, and in a way, it was this robbery that brought the nightmare to an end. On June 1, 1993, Zhu Xingjin, Zhao Jinhua and others who had just returned to Moscow were arrested by the Russian police. After the Chinese Embassy in Russia received this news, it immediately reported the situation to the central government. The nature of the case is so bad that people are outrageous, and the Chinese public security has decided not to sit idly by. Failure to severely punish them will not be enough to indignate the population.
● Miles of hunting
Cross-border arrests were not an easy task at that time. If formal official channels are to be followed, the police and governments of the two countries will have to go through a long consultation. Then this gives the bandits an opportunity. During the consultation, if the Russian police could not find evidence of the iron strike, the several robber leaders who had already been caught would most likely be released, and it would be difficult to catch them.
At this time, the Chinese public security side made a very bold decision. They divided into two groups, one from official channels, to assist the Russian police in interrogating the robbers who had already been caught. Another group of men sneaked into Russia to arrest the unrecovered bandits and secretly extradite them back to China. The Russian side is unaware of this secret arrest operation, and naturally it is impossible to get their assistance. What makes the task even more difficult is that the 9 Chinese police officers who sneaked into Russia were unable to carry weapons out of the country. In the face of such a vicious gangster, how to catch it if they can't bring weapons? After some discussion, Cheng Yali, the leader of the secret arrest squad, came up with a brilliant plan. They brought a large number of rolling pins and spring locks as self-defense weapons. If asked by the security personnel, it is said that northerners can not do without dumplings, and the rolling pin is used to roll the dumpling skin. Spring locks are used to lock boxes.
On July 21, 1993, the China International Train Robbery Task Force received a secret call from an informant. Newton, the leader of the uninhabited robbers, is ready to lead his men in a big fight in moscow. After this vote, they will leave Russia and abscond to other countries. Newton and another robber leader, Miao Binglin, and others have even obtained visas to go to Tunisia, which means that this is the only chance for the arrest team.
Thanks to the informant's accurate intelligence, the arrest went more smoothly than expected. But the difficulty is how to bring the captured bandits back to China. To say that it is good, this is called secret extradition, and what is not good to say is to secretly tie people back. If the bandits make trouble halfway and are discovered by the Russian police, it is possible to cause diplomatic friction. But if the hard-won people were handed over to the Russian police, after a few hours, without the victim's correction, it was very likely that the gang would escape again.
In a hurry, Cheng Yali police officer decided to take the risk. He first entrusted people to bring six cases of beer from Beijing. Then he called a Moscow police officer he had known well, told him it was a gift for him, and asked him to come to the train platform. How could a Russian who loves to drink refuse? On the platform, Cheng Yali and the Russian police hugged again and took a group photo. Deliberately acting very intimate, and having others pull open the curtains of the train, so that the robbers who were quietly brought back to China could see them, so that they mistakenly thought that the arrest and extradition activities were official acts, so that you would save some effort and stop making trouble. Just in case, the domestic police also cooperated, doing the work of the wife of the bandit Leader Miao Binglin in advance, and asking her to send a telegram to Moscow, saying that Miao Binglin was mentally ill, and that the brothers and sons hurriedly brought him back to China. If Miao Binglin really shouted at the train station platform, he would take out this letter and show it to everyone.
Sure enough, with all the preparations, several robbers were like frosted eggplants, and they were all sloppy along the way.
At the same time, with the cooperation of Chinese and Russian police officers, Zhu Xingjin, Zhao Jinhua and others finally confessed their criminal facts. In the early days of the interrogation, it was always the Russian police, and the robbers deliberately took advantage of the difference in language, pretended to be crazy and stupid, answered questions that were not asked, and once reached an impasse. Later, after the Chinese intervened, they suggested that the Russian police first starve the bandits for a few days and engage in psychological warfare with them. Zhu Xingjin and Zhao Jinhua and others, in recent years, it is easy to make money, they have always eaten and drunk spicy, and they have been unable to hold on to water and grain for a few days. At this time, the police brought them bread and drinks, and all of a sudden, their psychological defense line collapsed. 1510 is fully accounted for.
By October 1993, four criminal robbery gangs that were active in China had all been destroyed and more than 60 major criminals had been arrested.
In April 1994, the Sino-Russian international train case was heard at the Beijing Railway Transport Intermediate Court. What shocked people was that the K3 international train robbery of May 26, 1993, was only the tip of the iceberg of their crimes. After investigation, there are as many as 81 cases of reported cases and conclusive evidence, including 23 robberies on international trains, with a cumulative amount of millions of dollars. By 1994, 102 people involved had been arrested. In 2011, the last three wanted fugitives were also arrested.
Today, most businessmen traveling between China and Russia choose to fly instead of trains. The K3 international train, which can be said to carry the tears and sweat of the early Sino-Russian trade pioneers, has now been transformed into a famous sightseeing train. The uneasiness and fear of the past are long gone, leaving behind a beautiful scenery outside the car window.