Chapter 301 Your Accomplice
The toilet door next to him opened and a foul smell came out.
The three people next to him frowned because it was so smelly.
A man walked out from inside, glanced at the three of them, hummed a song and was about to walk back.
Zhou Yi's eyes flashed, it was him!
The man was chewing something, and his cheeks were constantly bulging with the chewing movement.
No wonder I couldn’t find any suspicious person after walking around. It turned out that he was squatting in the toilet.
"It's him." Zhou Yi pointed.
The two plainclothes railway police officers beside him were also experienced and immediately blocked the man's way.
"What?" the man said viciously with his eyes wide open.
"Police, please cooperate with our work!" said the railway police, showing his ID.
The man immediately showed a frightened expression, suddenly pushed the other person away and tried to run away.
But the railway police was obviously prepared and tripped the other person with one kick.
With a loud bang, the man fell flat on his face, and a black mass fell out of his mouth.
When the people in the carriage heard the noise, they all stretched their heads to look over.
"Run? The train is so small, where can you run to?" The railway policeman said as he pulled the man up from the ground.
Then another person opened the car door and pulled the man in.
The green-skinned train is not like the later high-speed trains. There are doors connecting the carriages. Once the doors are closed, the people in the carriages cannot be seen.
"Tell the truth, why are you running?" A railway police officer asked the man to lean against the wall, raised his hands above his head, and began to search him.
The man didn't dare to say a word. Zhou Yi knew that he must have stolen goods on him, otherwise he wouldn't have run away on the spot.
This is also the reason why the railway police conduct direct body searches, because evidence is the key and to catch a thief, you must seize the stolen goods.
"What is this?" The railway police found two wallets from the man's trouser pocket and shirt pocket, one was a black men's wallet made of cowhide, and the other was a pink women's wallet with a pattern.
He also found several sharp razor blades in the cuff of his right hand.
The railway policeman opened the wallet and took a look. The ID card inside did not match the man's at all.
"Where did this come from?" the railway police asked.
The man awkwardly defended himself: "I picked it up."
"Picked up? Can you pick up two more and show them to me?"
The man remained silent.
The railway police immediately took out handcuffs and handcuffed the man: "We have caught the criminal red-handed. Come with us."
"Comrade Zhou Yi, why don't you come with us to the lounge for further questioning."
Zhou Yi nodded. This was someone else's territory, so he had to listen to them. Besides, this connection area was indeed narrow and noisy, not a suitable place for interrogation.
Two plainclothes railway police officers, one in front and one behind, escorted the man forward, and Zhou Yi followed behind.
The green-skinned train does not only have simple hard seats. The hard seat carriages are only the main body and account for the largest proportion.
There are also hard sleeper cabins, and some trains have soft sleeper compartments, but this train does not have them.
In addition, there are luggage cars, mail cars and dining cars.
The staff lounge is usually located in these three carriages.
To avoid causing panic, the railway police took off the man's coat and covered his hands with it to avoid being seen by passengers.
Zhou Yi walked behind, keeping a proper distance from the three people, because he was observing whether anyone reacted to the man as he passed by.
The one who reacted abnormally must be this person's accomplice.
Sure enough, there was a middle-aged man with a beard. When he saw the pickpocket being escorted, his eyes immediately became very nervous.
But he immediately looked away and stared out the window, out of tune with the people around him.
When Zhou Yi walked past him, he glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, and the other person also glanced back out of the corner of his eye.
The moment their peripheral vision met, the middle-aged bearded man immediately lowered his head and scratched his hair.
This is an instinctive reaction to cover up nervousness.
"Excuse me, where is your lounge?" Zhou Yi asked the railway police in front of him in a low voice.
"It's the dining car up front, with the sign on the top."
"Okay, I'll be gone for a few minutes and will come back to you guys later."
At this time, the three of them opened the door of this carriage and walked out, but after closing the door, Zhou Yi hid sideways and only used his eyes to observe the situation inside through the door glass.
As expected, the middle-aged bearded man just now leaned his head towards the car door and looked, and Zhou Yi immediately retracted his head.
Two seconds later, when I looked again, I found that the man had stood up and walked in the opposite direction.
Zhou Yi carefully opened the car door and followed.
…
Carriage No. 9 is the dining car. For most people who take the green train, they have never even been to the dining car.
Because those who can afford to eat on the train are all rich people, most of them are like Zhang Xianglan and the old man and woman opposite, who bring their own food to fill their stomachs.
There is hot water available on the bus, and some people would bring instant noodles to soak in water. However, there were no bottled noodles in 1997, so people had to bring their own lunch boxes.
But that is already a luxury.
Zhou Yi knocked on the door with a sign saying "Lounge, No Trespassing".
The door was opened, and the person who opened it was the railway police officer who had just opened it. Another railway police officer was taking a statement from the pickpocket.
"You only stole two wallets? Are you kidding me? If we catch you, you'll say you only stole two, and if we don't catch you, you didn't steal anything, right? I'm warning you, if you don't tell the truth, all the things stolen on this train today will be attributed to you alone!" The railway police pointed at the nose of the pickpocket squatting on the ground and cursed.
"How is it?" Zhou Yi walked in and asked after closing the door.
"I just searched again and found some cash stuffed in his socks and two razor blades hidden on his waistband. He is definitely a veteran and a professional razor blade gang," said the railway police.
Blades are the professional tools used by pickpockets.
They sharpened ordinary razor blades to be extremely sharp, and could easily cut open purses, bags, clothes, etc., and steal valuables without anyone noticing.
Therefore, anyone who is found to have a razor blade on his body is undoubtedly a pickpocket.
There are also some terms in the pickpocket industry that Zhou Yi knows a little about, but he is not very proficient in.
"Have you seen this person before?" Zhou Yi asked.
The plainclothes officers on the train are relatively fixed. Their job is to disguise themselves as passengers and follow the train to ensure the safety of the train and its passengers.
So under normal circumstances, if certain faces appear frequently, they must be professional pickpockets.
The railway police shook his head and said, "I've never seen this guy before. He's probably a pickpocket. Oh, pickpockets are used to avoid being recognized by familiar faces. Pickpockets often trade territory with each other."
Zhou Yi nodded. It was really a battle of wits and courage.
It's a pity that the rampant theft will continue for another ten years or so, until smartphones and mobile payments become popular. By then, everyone will have a mobile phone and no cash in their pockets, and most thieves will naturally die out.
"Comrade Zhou Yi, why do you want to arrest this man? Could it be that he's a fugitive criminal suspect?"
"Oh, no. I'm on a business trip. The person traveling with me is a family member of the victim. Her wallet must have been stolen by this guy. The documents in the wallet are related to a case we're working on, so we need to recover them."
Upon hearing this, the railway police walked over, kicked the squatting pickpocket, and asked, "You're not telling the truth, are you? You said you only stole two. Tell me! How much did you steal?"
"I really didn't have any. I only stole these two. I don't know about the others." The pickpocket said pretending to be innocent while holding his head.
Zhou Yi said coldly, "You think you only stole two wallets, not much money, so your sentence won't be long, right? Well, let me tell you, the documents in the wallet you stole from car number four when you boarded the train are related to a major criminal case. Your actions constitute obstruction of public service. With multiple crimes and punishments combined, you think you'll get a good result."
"I..." The man looked up, his eyes clearly panicking.
"Why not confess honestly, give up all your accomplices, expose them, and redeem yourself for meritorious service? As long as I can get your documents back, I'll pretend the obstruction charge never happened."
Zhou Yi was simply trying to scare him. The sentencing for theft is primarily based on the amount of money involved. The legal definition of obstructing public service is more complex, generally involving the use of violence or threats to hinder police enforcement.
Therefore, the pickpocket's behavior does not actually reach the level of obstructing public service.
But how could such a pickpocket understand such detailed legal issues? Besides, to deal with such a person, scaring him is the only effective way.
Zhou Yi clearly remembers that on his first day at the Nanhu Subdistrict Police Station, his master Zhang Ning told him that being a policeman requires practicing the law, but sometimes one must also learn how to scare people.
The words may be rough but the truth is there, because being too rigid and sticking to the rules will only tie your own hands and feet.
Just don't make threats or intimidation during recorded judicial proceedings such as interrogations, or in public.
So in the 1980s and 1990s, this kind of thing was very common, and many people would back down after being scared.
However, technology has developed since then, and police officers now carry law enforcement recorders. The subjects of law enforcement and the surrounding people can also take out their mobile phones to take pictures at any time, and post them online if there is any disagreement.
Therefore, police officers needed to be more cautious when handling cases, but Zhou Yi had no memory of it by then because he had already been benched in the Archives Department.
"I told you... can you really make amends for your crime?" the pickpocket asked tentatively.
"That depends on whether what you say is valuable."
"Can...how much can the sentence be reduced?"
The railway police officer beside him was furious: "Hey, you dare to bargain."
As soon as he finished speaking, the train broadcast sounded. It was not a standard computer recording, but a verbal announcement made by the train staff through the broadcast.
"Dear passengers, this train is expected to arrive at Cannes Station in five minutes. Passengers who need to get off please prepare in advance. As the train stops for a short time, please do not get off the train for a long time before arriving at the station to avoid missing the departure."
Zhou Yi thought, oh no, they arrived earlier than he estimated.
Moreover, once the announcement is made, a large number of passengers preparing to get off the bus will crowd the doors and aisles, directly affecting their movements.
"The bearded man in a jacket, seat four, row seven of carriage number 11, is he your accomplice, right?" Zhou Yi said.
The pickpocket was startled.
"Boy, do you think we really don't know who your accomplices are?"
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