349: Chapter 349 Major Counterfeit Money Case

Today was the third day Qin Chuan had gone to work at the Criminal Investigation Bureau.

For the first two days, he had driven himself, but today that was unnecessary. As he walked out of the villa, a black sedan was parked outside the gate; it was Qin Chuan's exclusive vehicle.

Seeing Qin Chuan come out of the villa, Secretary Wei Jiangnan immediately greeted him and proactively opened the back door of the car. After the leader got in, he sat in the passenger seat.

The driver was a man with a buzz cut, Qin Chuan's full-time chauffeur. He was a man of few words, saying only "Hello, Leader" before focusing on driving.

Comfortable, truly comfortable!

Having a chauffeur-driven car was just comfortable.

Not only was there a car for pick-up and drop-off, but there was also someone specifically serving him, like Secretary Wei Jiangnan, who handled matters properly, arriving on time every morning to pick him up for work and driving him home in the afternoon.

It was no wonder so many people broke their necks trying to become officials; having a group of people waiting on them hand and foot was surely one of the reasons.

After working for several consecutive days, Qin Chuan felt very relaxed; there wasn't much to do every day.

This was also normal; after all, as a Deputy Party Committee Secretary, he didn't need to participate in the front lines of criminal investigation. His daily work consisted of abstract tasks, so it would be strange if he weren't idle.

Over these few days, Qin Chuan had basically become familiar with the bureau leaders. Apart from Party Committee Secretary Zhu Laifa, who hadn't given up and was still secretly trying to win him over, the person among them with whom he had the most compatible personality and got along best was Standing Committee Deputy Bureau Chief Gu Hanlin.

Bureau Chief Gu Hanlin was in his early forties, a Second-Class Police Commissioner, and the youngest among the deputy bureau chiefs. He had received a pile of honors and had fought his way up step by step from the grassroots level. His ability was outstanding; his only shortcoming might be that his background was slightly lacking.

Because their personalities were compatible and they could chat well, Qin Chuan would occasionally go to his office to sit for a while. Sometimes, if Bureau Chief Gu Hanlin had time, he would also come over to have some tea.

Bureau Chief Gu Hanlin hadn't come over yesterday, and he hadn't come today either, so Qin Chuan took the initiative to go over, knock on the door, and push his way into his office.

Inside the office, there was a smell of smoke, and the ashtray on the desk was full of cigarette butts. It looked like Bureau Chief Gu Hanlin had smoked quite a lot.

Qin Chuan nodded slightly. He had seen the system update news early this morning, and one of the items was related to Bureau Chief Gu Hanlin.

"Old Gu, what's wrong? You look so distressed."

Seeing Qin Chuan enter, Bureau Chief Gu Hanlin sighed softly. "I've encountered a tricky case. You see, the pressure is immense, so I'm smoking a few cigarettes to relieve it."

Qin Chuan sat down on the sofa and asked, "What kind of case could make even our Comrade Bureau Chief Gu Hanlin feel such great pressure?"

Bureau Chief Gu Hanlin took out a few brand-new hundred-yuan bills. "Secretary Qin, take a look and see if there is anything unusual about these bills."

Taking these bills, Qin Chuan examined them seriously for a full minute or two, then slowly said, "Comrade Bureau Chief Gu Hanlin, although I finally realized these are counterfeit, they are made so realistically and to such a high standard that unless one is a professional, an ordinary citizen really wouldn't be able to tell the difference."

Bureau Chief Gu Hanlin said, "Secretary Qin is impressive for spotting that these are counterfeit. We have solved many counterfeit money cases, but this is the first time in my career I have encountered such high-level counterfeit money."

"Look at this paper, this ink, and these security features; they are almost exactly the same as real bills. If no one told me it was counterfeit, even I would think it was real."

Qin Chuan said slowly, "Then this is likely not an ordinary counterfeit money case. We must solve it as soon as possible; perhaps we can dig out a lot of things from it."

Bureau Chief Gu Hanlin nodded. "Yes, we have ordered Guangdong Province to solve the case within a time limit. To be honest, although the order to solve the case within a time limit has been issued, we don't have much confidence."

As the Executive Deputy Bureau Chief of the Criminal Investigation Bureau, for him to say such words shows that the case is indeed very tricky; otherwise, under the might of the state apparatus, what case couldn't be solved?

...

Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department.

The Provincial Public Security Department held another special meeting. The superiors demanded the case be solved within ten days, and every department leader was under immense pressure.

To this day, they still hadn't found any effective leads on the counterfeit money—for example, where the counterfeit factory was, who the members of the counterfeit group were, the main circulation channels for the counterfeit money, etc. They didn't know anything at all.

"Everyone, we only have ten days. We must solve the case!"

"Yes, if we can't solve it within ten days, getting punished is a small matter; the key is that it will make the police of Guangdong Province lose face!"

"This case is not small. Preliminary investigations show the amount of counterfeit money involved is over one billion. If we don't solve it as soon as possible, there will be more and more counterfeit money in society, which will not only cause panic among the public but also affect the economy."

"..."

The department leaders were holding a meeting in a stifling and oppressive atmosphere until a phone call came in.

Director Du Qingbo's mobile phone vibrated, emitting a low buzzing sound. Originally, he wanted to hang up the call directly, but seeing that it was the special investigation team calling, he signaled for everyone to be quiet.

"Comrades, excuse me. I need to take a call; the special investigation team might have made a breakthrough."

Everyone quickly quieted down, looking at him with hope as he answered the phone.

After finishing the call, Director Du Qingbo indeed seemed a bit excited. "Comrades, there is finally some good news. We have finally captured a key member of the counterfeit money group, and he is on his way back to the Provincial Public Security Department."

"Really? That's great!"

"We must pry his mouth open and interrogate him about the situation of the counterfeit money group. If we can follow the vine to find the melon and destroy this group in one fell swoop, that would be great!"

"We have so many interrogation experts; as long as the person is brought back, we will definitely be able to pry his mouth open. There's no need to worry about that!"

"..."

Hearing that a key member had been captured, the atmosphere lightened. Everyone chimed in, seeming much more relaxed and even revealing a sense of joy.

The Criminal Investigation Bureau soon received the report from Guangdong Province, and the call went directly to Bureau Chief Gu Hanlin.

On the phone, Bureau Chief Gu Hanlin gave a strict order to pry the key member's mouth open and ensure the case was completely solved within ten days.

However...

The situation was not optimistic. 24 hours had passed, and they still hadn't pried the guy's mouth open, even though several interrogation experts had been deployed; it was still useless.

Bureau Chief Gu Hanlin went to Guangdong Province in person to supervise the case, but he returned after one day and was losing his temper and cursing in his office.

Knowing Bureau Chief Gu Hanlin had returned, Qin Chuan came over again and pushed the door open. "Comrade Bureau Chief Gu Hanlin, your expression is so grim; the case isn't going smoothly, is it?"

This was a major counterfeit money case. There were already relevant reports on the internet, and many citizens were worried about receiving counterfeit money and were starting to have certain concerns; the social impact was getting bigger and bigger.

The pressure was all on the police side, and even some high-level leaders had specifically called to inquire about the matter.

Seeing that it was Qin Chuan who entered, Bureau Chief Gu Hanlin's expression softened slightly. "This guy is stubborn and difficult; his anti-reconnaissance and anti-interrogation abilities are very strong. At a glance, it's clear he has received special training. We now all suspect that this is not a simple counterfeit money case."

Qin Chuan nodded slightly. Of course, this counterfeit money case was not simple. With the information provided by the system, he did know some things, but not much.

"Comrade Bureau Chief Gu Hanlin, I heard that you have brought that key member back to the Criminal Investigation Bureau. Is that the case?"

Under normal circumstances, criminals would not be brought back directly, but this case was different. The influence was growing, so Bureau Chief Gu Hanlin had ordered him to be brought back for interrogation.