Diary of a Criminal Investigator

Gao Xiang was pretty helpless too.

When they checked yesterday, they really hadn’t considered the roof, and it never occurred to them the suspects would hide in a sewage shaft.

But that was exactly where the suspects had hidden—two spots they’d overlooked.

Now there was no point saying anything; the Major Crimes Unit came over, did a sweep, and immediately figured out how the two men got away.

Even though they still hadn’t figured out how Suspect No. 3 vanished, they had already clarified the escape of two people, which meant they could push for a breakthrough starting from those two.

Since they hadn’t found anything new for the time being, Li Donglin didn’t waste any time.

Armed robbery—although they could now be sure the gun in the suspect’s hand was actually a fake, they still couldn’t rule out whether the other two guns were also fake, or if they had two replicas and one real gun. But either way, this case could not be treated lightly.

In Meeting Room No. 1 of the Binzhou City Criminal Investigation Team, Li Donglin was convening the first case analysis meeting.

"First of all, what we can confirm is that this was a carefully planned, thoroughly laid out, and successfully executed robbery."

Everyone agreed on that point.

The entire robbery was captured on surveillance video; they could even hear clearly what the robbers said.

"The security positions of the cash transport guards are actually fixed for each run. Once the three robbers rushed out, they were able to instantly control the corresponding guards. This shows they had done extremely detailed prep in advance, carrying out long-term reconnaissance, or else one of them had previously worked as a cash escort guard."

On this point, Gao Xiang and his people were already screening.

Especially the escort guards who had resigned recently—they were a key target of their investigation.

"Everyone talk about your own views."

A case analysis meeting was of course meant to solicit opinions, pool information, and determine the direction of the next phase of the investigation.

Robbery scene, escape routes, how the robbers hid themselves—members of the Major Crimes Unit had already done corresponding field checks and analysis that afternoon.

Everyone had their own take.

Wang Song spoke first.

"My suggestion is, can we look into online shopping records?"

Online shopping records?

Everyone turned to Wang Song.

He went on, "After watching the entire process of the robbery of the cash transport truck, I noticed something about the blast suits they were wearing."

Everyone nodded; the blast suits the robbers wore were indeed noteworthy.

The three robbers’ blast suits were full gear. ’Full gear’ didn’t refer to how many weapons they had, but that they were wrapped from head to toe in those suits.

On the head, only the eye area was covered by something like tinted glass or plastic—a visor-type material that allowed one-way sight.

Every other part was completely enclosed.

"I checked online. There are only a few models of this kind of blast suit available for sale."

"The number of buyers in Binzhou City definitely isn’t large. From this angle, we might be able to trace some leads."

Everyone felt Wang Song’s suggestion was indeed workable.

The three robbers’ blast suits were very distinctive—full coverage, completely wrapped, with no skin exposed anywhere.

"Good. Wang Song, you’ll take point on this line. If necessary, you can ask the Provincial Department’s Information Technology Center for assistance."

"Yes, sir!"

After assigning that task, Li Donglin looked at the others.

Song Mingguang picked up the thread: "Director Li, my suggestion is that we conduct a certain level of investigation into bank internal staff."

"Oh? Why investigate bank staff?"

This robbery, strictly speaking, occurred after bank staff brought out the cash boxes and handed them to the escort guards; the robbery was of the cash transport truck, not a robbery inside the bank.

Yet Song Mingguang was proposing to investigate bank personnel.

A number of people looked at him, puzzled. Investigating the escort guards made sense, but investigating bank staff...

"The amount stolen."

What he was getting at was the amount of cash the robbers took.

"When I was gathering information this afternoon, I checked: this cash truck has to transport cash from three different branches every day."

"But cash flow over the past few days has been relatively small—on average, less than three million a day."

"Only yesterday was different. Yesterday, two coal mines deposited large amounts of cash in two sub-branches, which led to there being more than eight million in cash in the bank."

"That’s abnormal. Based on a rough inquiry, for the past month the daily cash flow across those three branches combined has ranged between three and five million—at most no more than five million."

"Yet yesterday it suddenly jumped to eight million—the only time that happened."

"And the robbers just happened to choose yesterday to make their move."

"Why? Was it a coincidence?"

"As Director Li just said, the robbers were extremely smooth throughout this operation, which shows they had rehearsed multiple times and were very familiar with the handover process between the bank and the escort guards."

"And they also knew this cash truck was transporting cash for three branches; they hit it at the last one, which is when the cash volume was at its peak."

"Three or five million in cash versus eight million—they’re not on the same level. If they wanted to carry it off, or stash it somewhere, they couldn’t have ignored the issue of weight."

"So I think they deliberately chose yesterday, when the bank had a large cash holding, to strike."

"And how could they have known there would be a large amount of cash in the bank yesterday? Is there an insider on the bank’s side?"

Song Mingguang’s question...

It sounded logical.

In solving cases, there are no coincidences.

That’s something all veteran investigators firmly believe.

Take Lu Chuan, for example. Even though he’s young and has the shortest time in service among them, he’s handled more major and critical cases than most.

If he had to sum up one key experience from working big cases, Lu Chuan would say it’s that there are no coincidences.

When you discover a ’coincidence’ in an investigation, the odds are high that something’s wrong.

Just like what was bothering Song Mingguang—why did the robbers choose yesterday to act?

Why not the day before?

Why not the previous week?

They acted precisely on the day when the three banks had the highest cash flow.

If that was just a coincidence, then it would mean the robbers were unbelievably lucky.

But there was another issue—the other point Song Mingguang was suspicious about.

In planning this robbery, the most critical part for the robbers wasn’t how to carry out the robbery itself, but how to leave safely afterward.

So the amount of cash before the robbery would definitely have been a key factor in their planning.

Someone running with ten jin on his back versus fifty jin—their escape speed is not the same.

Three people carrying six cash boxes, each box with more than a million inside.

How heavy is that?

A hundred million in cash weighs between ten and fifteen kilograms.

Plus the weight of the cash box, that’s around seventeen kilograms.

Two boxes, that’s thirty-four kilograms!

"We can look into this direction."

"We need to pull the call logs, text records, and so on for all staff from the three banks."

"Mingguang, you’ll be in charge of this."