Fishing for Big Fish

The police officers were all quite excited.

Uncovering a money laundering ring was undoubtedly of great significance.

Due to the special nature of such operations, their clients were likely to be troublemakers, after all, only dirty money needed laundering, and only those involved in illegal activities would possess such tainted funds.

If they could locate this money laundering ring, the police might be able to follow the trail and discover many lawbreakers and even criminal organizations.

Xu Mo was thinking about how the reward for this case would surely be substantial, as it no longer involved just a fraudster who had forged financial institutions, but also a money laundering ring and many people who had business dealings with them - this was a major case!

Seeing the expressions on the officers' faces, Wang Hai's eyes darted around as he realized that the police seemed very interested in this money laundering ring. If he could help the police take down this organization, wouldn't that count as atoning for his crimes? This could be a great opportunity for a reduced sentence!

"How do you communicate with this money laundering ring? By phone?" Li Yunfei asked.

Wang Hai displayed a fawning smile: "Officer, if the information I provide helps you catch this money laundering ring, would that count as good behavior... could you consider reducing my sentence?"

"Are you trying to bargain with us?" Li Yunfei's expression turned cold. "Whether your sentence gets reduced depends on your actual performance, no one can guarantee that. But what I can tell you right now is that if you try to use this as leverage and deliberately withhold information to negotiate a reduced sentence, that would be concealing information and protecting a criminal organization - an additional offense."

After intimidating Wang Hai, Li Yunfei's expression quickly softened as he patted Wang Hai's shoulder: "You're a smart person. I trust you know what you should do."

Wang Hai nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, I know!"

He then continued: "Phone calls aren't safe because they might be monitored. The people from the money laundering ring and I always arrange time and place over the phone but meet in person privately."

Wang Hai wasn't sure if cooperating fully would actually reduce his sentence, but he knew he definitely couldn't risk additional charges for concealing information. Fraudulently impersonating a financial institution to scam over 4 million yuan was already a serious crime - if they added the charge of protecting a money laundering ring, he might never get out of prison!

"Call them now to set up a meeting, tell them you have more money to launder," Li Yunfei first looked at Wang Hai.

Then he turned to the other officers: "Get ready soon - however many people they bring, that's how many we'll arrest. Then we'll find ways to get information about the other members from them. Best case scenario, we can take down this entire money laundering operation in one go!"

"I'll call headquarters to get more people to help, just in case we're short-handed," Li Yunfei said as he took out his phone and called the station.

Ten minutes later, six more private cars arrived outside the bank, and plainclothes officers stepped out of each one.

These were the reinforcements Li Yunfei had called for.

The money launderers were surely very cunning, so to prevent any mishaps during the arrest operation, they needed extra backup.

Including the newly arrived officers, there were now over thirty police officers in the bank. With so many people executing the arrest operation simultaneously, the targets would have virtually no chance of escape.

Seeing that all reinforcements had arrived, Li Yunfei looked at the handcuffed Wang Hai.

"Alright, make the call now. Contact that criminal organization."

"Um, officer, you confiscated my phone..." Wang Hai said cautiously.

Li Yunfei immediately pulled Wang Hai's confiscated phone from his pocket and handed it to him.

The latter took the phone, glanced at the officers around him, then opened his contacts, found a number and dialed it, thoughtfully putting it on speaker.

After about fifteen seconds, the call connected.

Wang Hai quickly said: "Brother Zhang, it's me, Wang Hai. Are you free right now?"

"Mm," the person on the other end nodded, then said: "One hour from now, Coastal Coffee."

Then the call ended.

Wang Hai looked at the officers: "It's set - in one hour, at Coastal Coffee."

Li Yunfei reached out and took back the phone from Wang Hai's hand, putting it in his own pocket to prevent Wang Hai from trying anything suspicious.

He then looked at the other officers: "We need to get there early to set up an ambush. There's no time to waste - everyone get in the cars and head out!"

...

At Coastal Coffee.

To catch the big fish, the police had removed Wang Hai's handcuffs.

They weren't worried about him trying to escape, as their people were everywhere around.

Similarly, the officers weren't too concerned about this arrest operation, as they saw virtually no possibility of failure.

Over thirty plainclothes officers had already surrounded the coffee shop in multiple layers, both inside and outside. As soon as they confirmed their targets, they could immediately make the arrests. Unless the suspects grew wings and flew away, there was absolutely no escape.

Only Xu Mo kept frowning, as he had a feeling this arrest operation wouldn't go as smoothly as planned.

This money laundering ring seemed too amateurish... They were afraid of phone taps so they insisted on meeting in person? How was meeting in person any safer?

In Xu Mo's view, meeting in person was far more dangerous than communicating by phone. Phone communications could at least use virtual numbers that police couldn't trace, but once the time and place of a face-to-face meeting were exposed, wouldn't that make for guaranteed arrests?

Just then, a man wearing a black suit walked toward Wang Hai, who was sitting near the coffee shop's back door.

When Wang Hai saw this man, he picked up his coffee cup and took a sip.

This was the signal he had arranged with the police - when the target appeared, he would alert the officers by drinking his coffee.

Xu Mo noticed Wang Hai's signal and observed the suited man walking directly toward Wang Hai. His keen perception immediately spotted the problem.

They indeed had a backup plan - no wonder they dared to arrange meetings about money laundering in public places.

The next second, Li Yunfei pressed his wireless earpiece and said:

"Target spotted. Move in!"

As soon as he finished speaking, but before the officers could act, Xu Mo also pressed his earpiece and said: "Stop, something's wrong."

The officers who were about to rush forward and tackle the target suddenly stopped, glancing toward Xu Mo's direction in confusion.

Something's wrong? What could be wrong?