My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 412

‘Come to think of it, I didn’t know who those guys were back then.’

It wasn’t his case at the time. But thinking about it now, there’s a very high chance that those guys are these guys. Approaching a freighter is more difficult than you think because of the tight security due to the valuable cargo on board.

“But which one of those many ships? I don’t even know if it came in the first place.”

“Of course. In fact, it’s nearly impossible to rob a ship directly right now. But Wonang Cargo must have inside help—employees.”

“Yes?”

“Someone has to get close to it. And not just anyone can approach these ships.”

People might think that these freighter ports are so big and have so many workers that entry and exit are easy, but in reality, port personnel control is tighter than you think.

Of course, it’s a national infrastructure, so a terrorist attack could cause serious problems.

Besides, there’s no legitimate reason to go to the port unless you have specific business there.

“Especially since the area where the ships dock and the cargo pickup point are completely separate.”

When the cargo is unloaded from the ship in containers, the shipowners don’t pick it up directly. The cargo goes to a designated collection point. And at that collection point, the cargo is inspected and confirmed, and then the authorized parties come and take the cargo.

Of course, it’s not easy to just take the cargo because all the information is provided to the drivers who will transport the containers, including vehicle numbers and driver information. It’s practically impossible for an unauthorized person to simply go and take the cargo.

“In other words, someone has to register as a worker to get on the ship.”

“Is that difficult?”

“It’s very difficult. The people who work with freighters are all experts. They’re not just unskilled laborers.”

From vehicles to machine operation, all work is done very precisely. There’s no other way because each container weighs at least dozens of tons. So if an accident happens, it almost always leads to a fatal injury.

In fact, there have been accidents where people died because they didn’t properly secure the container and it fell over, and accidents where improperly secured containers fell from the cranes that were moving them are quite common in ports.

“So it’s generally not easy to get in. It’s hard to get in even with bribes.”

The labor costs for working at the port are so high because the work is so hard that no one wants to quit. And if you’re unlucky, you’re more likely to be reported for bribery.

“It’s impossible for gangsters to gather at the port and stab each other like in the movies.”

“Then?”

“Yes, if you investigate that Wonang Cargo, you’ll find something.”

To be exact, you can find someone who belongs to Wonang Cargo in the access records. Most people continue to work according to a set route. But if someone keeps working under the name of Wonang Cargo irregularly, there’s a high chance that he’s the culprit.

“Could he be a Wonang Cargo employee?”

“Not necessarily. Drug offenders are very suspicious.”

Since drugs are so expensive, they’re bound to suspect that someone is taking them out and embezzling them. So they’ll definitely send one person in to monitor them.

“And that record will definitely be left behind.”

Joo Kwang-won nodded at Park Do-joon’s words.

“And the port authorities cooperate with the police, right?”

“That’s right. The port authorities are also very troubled by drugs.”

No matter how hard they try to stop it, drugs keep coming in. The port authorities are also making a lot of efforts to stop it, but it’s not easy.

“But I don’t know if we can stop it properly this time.”

All port entrants are naturally recorded electronically. You can’t just enter if you want to, and if you approach without a record, an emergency is immediately declared, so you have to get permission to enter in advance.

And since there was a clear target called Wonang Cargo, finding him was not difficult as Park Do-joon expected.

“Bae Jang-won, huh…….”

Bae Jang-won. He is thirty-six years old and has a record of entering and leaving Wonang Cargo since he was thirty-one. His job was listed as a container loading assistant.

“But this is rare.”

“That’s right.”

It is true that an assistant is needed when loading. That’s how you can lower and secure the container in the correct position. Of course, there are professional personnel who do that.

But an assistant who works irregularly for only one day? An assistant who works on Sundays?

“Besides, the assistant should belong to the port worker pool, right?”

If Park Do-joon’s memory is correct, the assistant definitely belongs to the port worker pool. The containers that have been finalized here head to the loading area where the cargo is collected, and there they are unloaded again with the help of another worker.

“He’s definitely suspicious.”

Furthermore, most of his working hours are at night. And that’s not the only suspicious thing.

“If you look at the dates he worked, there are only two ships involved.”

One was the Grand Canyon, flagged in Panama. And the Las Vegas, belonging to the Solomon Islands.

“Anyway, it’s common to register the shipment in other places because of taxes, but both names are place names in the United States.”

In other words, it is operated by an American company.

“Well, they couldn’t have brought it in on all the ships in the same way.”

They must have ships that trade with each other, and if they rashly approach other ships and ask them to move it, they may be reported in reverse.

“Anyway, two ships are enough to bring in enough drugs to use in Korea.”

The important thing is that the ships have been identified. And the guys who bring it in too.

“But it doesn’t seem like the time for that ship to come in.”

“I think it would be good to investigate Bae Jang-won first.”

“Are you going to leak the information?”

Joo Kwang-won was surprised and asked at Park Do-joon’s words.

“No, wait a minute. Wait a minute. I don’t understand? Are you leaking information now? Now?”

From Joo Kwang-won’s point of view, it didn’t make sense. Because if you hold on to this, you can carry out the biggest drug arrest operation ever.

The amount hidden in the ballast [heavy material used to stabilize a ship] of the ship will be at least hundreds of kilograms. The amount of philopon [methamphetamine] and ecstasy will be enormous.

Of course, if they wait a little longer and attack, they can build up the best performance ever. But you’re going to leak it?

“Yes, we have to leak it.”

“Why? No, it’s not that I’m taking Vanilla’s side, but it’s an opportunity to wipe them out in one shot.”

“I know. I don’t misunderstand. But a clean sweep is the opposite of what we want.”

“Opposite?”

“Let’s say we found hundreds of kilograms of drugs. But can we really connect that directly to Vanilla?”

“Of course, it’s Vanilla’s because it’s marked.”

“That’s not what I mean. Of course, we know it’s related to Vanilla. But we can’t prove that the guys we found are actually members of Vanilla.”

“Ugh.”

‘I think it was like that even before the regression.’

Hundreds of kilograms of drugs were found and an investigation was conducted. But I remember it only went up to that point. Even if it wasn’t in the news, the rumors spread within the police.

‘It’s not like I don’t know about the existence of Vanilla.’

I already know about the existence of Vanilla and I also know that the amount of drugs they distribute every year is at least thousands of kilograms.

Even if we confiscate about 400 kilograms of them, we can’t realistically collapse their distribution network. Because they have to send that much in.

“Of course, in terms of performance, hundreds of kilograms of drugs are better to appeal to the media or higher-ups. But ultimately, we have to involve Vanilla for additional progress and the future of the investigation.”

“Hoo~!”

Joo Kwang-won sighed deeply at those words.

“The higher-ups won’t like it.”

“I know. The higher-ups are just more obsessed with visible results.”

Since the public doesn’t know about the Vanilla organization, even if it’s in the news, the public will just think, ‘Oh, they just caught another gangster.’ But they found hundreds of kilograms of drugs?

If they talk about it in the media, the public will think, ‘Our police are doing a good job.’

“Seeing the numbers makes it look like you’re doing a good job.”

“Ugh.”

“That’s why the country is falling apart.”

Because they only try to build up performance with what they see in numbers or what they see in performance, nothing works properly.

“Is that so?”

“Yes, it’s more serious than you think.”

Anyone who has lived in the military knows. When a superior officer such as a general or a member of the National Assembly comes, they do all sorts of crazy things. When the asphalt laid in the military unit gets old, the color naturally fades due to dust, but they even applied shoe polish to change the color to black because they had to look good to the general.

The problem is that shoe polish is a supply item, but even if they use it that way, no additional shoe polish comes out. It’s already a mess because there’s not enough shoe polish, but in the end, the soldiers have to buy the necessary shoe polish with their own money.

“Ah, well, when I was in the military, I applied shoe polish to the tires because the general was coming. They said it had to be black. But when I said there was no shoe polish, they went out and bought several boxes. I was so dumbfounded. If that’s the case, they should have just bought cheap black paint.”

“You must have been a driver.”

“Yes.”

“But did they give you the proper maintenance supplies?”

At those words, Joo Kwang-won smiled bitterly. They only care about what they see, but they don’t give you the maintenance supplies you need to run the vehicles that are really needed in case of war, no matter how much you beg.

“They don’t give it to me at all. That’s why I went to military prison.”

“Ah, really?”

“Yes.”

He was the driver of a 2.5-ton truck, commonly known as a ‘Yukgong truck’ [a standard military truck], and he had told them dozens of times to please replace the brakes because the brakes were in bad condition. Brake pads are consumables, but in the case of 2.5-ton trucks, not only supplies but also people ride in them, so it can lead to personal injury accidents, but they wouldn’t give it to him no matter what.

“Then eventually the brakes didn’t work and I crashed into a mountain.”

He was on his way down from the vehicle unit to transport troops to another unit. Most military units are in the mountains, and the unit he belonged to was the same, so he had no choice but to go down the hill, and in the meantime, the brakes slipped.

Fortunately, it was the starting point, so no supplies or other personnel were on board, so the accident ended with just that one.

“Then the company commander and battalion commander went crazy and sent me to Manchuria [a derogatory term for being sent to a difficult or remote post] twice.”

Even then, when they tried to send him for the third time, he got angry and threatened to report it to the Human Rights Commission, so they didn’t send him.

“I told them at least twenty times to replace the brakes.”

But they had money to buy shoe polish and ignored the brake pad request.