Chapter 348: The Worst Thing About Crime Is a Pig for a Teammate

The factory owner naturally didn't want to spend that much money.

At this point, an intermediary-type organization appeared that could not only provide cheap labor but also guarantee sufficient personnel.

No need for you to buy insurance, no need for you to provide various benefits.

Even if workplace injuries occur, you won't be held responsible, and they can even send a replacement worker over.

Even if something serious eventually happens, you won't bear criminal liability.

Faced with such conditions, anyone with a hint of greed would be unable to resist.

"Let me do the math for you."

The one speaking was Captain Hua; seeing that Yu Dazhang didn't want to explain, he had no choice but to step in himself.

"Let's take a monthly salary of fifteen hundred as an example. At first glance, this monthly salary seems very low."

"But what about a year? Do the math again."

Hearing this, the officer immediately answered:

"Fifteen hundred times twelve, that's eighteen thousand a year."

From his expression, one could tell that an annual salary of eighteen thousand was also a very low income.

Captain Hua nodded with satisfaction and continued:

"Let's think longer term. How many years does a person work? Even for heavy physical labor, ten years, wouldn't you say?"

This question was easy to answer; ten years was the bare minimum.

A young and middle-aged adult, even in heavy physical labor, could work twenty or thirty years without issue.

Seeing everyone nodding in agreement, Captain Hua went on:

"Calculated this way, one intellectually disabled person can bring in a profit of one hundred eighty thousand over ten years."

"What about a thousand people?"

When this question came up, not just that officer, but many people present couldn't help but draw a sharp breath.

One hundred eighty million!

Clearly, most of those present had never calculated it the way Captain Hua did.

And this was still a conservative estimate.

Just in Yancheng's industrial district alone, a third-tier city, there were over three hundred intellectually disabled persons.

One must remember, Province N has thirteen prefecture-level cities.

If you count them all, how many people would that be?

From what is currently known, they began laying out their operation in Yancheng seven years ago.

What about even earlier?

They very likely started in other cities first, so the time when that organization began planning needs to be pushed back even further.

Even if we shorten their criminal activity to five years and set the total number of intellectually disabled persons involved at four thousand.

Even with this calculation, the profit reaches 360 million.

Who dares say this is a small sum?

And this is still a conservative estimate; the real number is bound to be higher than this.

"Now do you still think a monthly salary of fifteen hundred is low?" Captain Hua asked, looking at that officer.

This question didn't need answering.

So that officer could only smile awkwardly.

Through Captain Hua's analysis, the profit point was now clear.

But now a new question arose in everyone's mind.

That organization could clearly make more money, so why hadn't they demanded a raise in all these years?

One must remember, the average social wage rises every year.

They had every reason to demand a raise, and as long as the increase wasn't outrageous, those factory owners probably wouldn't refuse.

But from those factory owners' statements, this salary level was set from the very beginning.

It never changed in seven years.

Given the other side's ability to lay out operations, they should clearly know this kind of business would eventually collapse, so they wouldn't have ideas about small profits and quick sales or long-term development.

So is there a possibility...

They have other profit points?

The moment this thought arose, Yu Dazhang immediately felt his scalp tingling.

Enslaving intellectually disabled persons was already bad enough—it was basically no different from human trafficking—if there were other profit points...

Then it really would be human trafficking!

How else could they sell them?

When Yu Dazhang thought to this point, he got stuck.

Human traffickers mainly target women and children; they basically wouldn't go after adult males, let alone traffic intellectually disabled persons.

The reason is simple.

Hard to sell.

So this angle can be ruled out.

There's another viable method: organ trafficking.

Yu Dazhang had previously handled a tertiary hospital case and had looked into organ and bone marrow transplants.

Even if it's illegal, hospitals would find their own ways and wouldn't cooperate with outsiders.

Because hospitals themselves never lack for people; with a little ingenuity, they can get whatever they need.

Besides, the base number here is too large; the hospital couldn't use that many people either.

Considering the above points, the hospital can also be ruled out.

He couldn't guess anymore… Yu Dazhang ran through everything he could think of in his mind.

Since he couldn't figure it out, only one possibility remained: what the other party had done was beyond his own understanding.

At that moment, another officer spoke up:

"Since the other party has already been using mentally disabled persons to amass wealth, why not send people to the black brick kilns?"

How did black brick kilns get dragged into this… Yu Dazhang didn't catch it for a moment and turned to look at Captain Hua.

"It's like this."

Captain Hua immediately explained:

"These past few years we've had several large-scale cleanup operations, mainly targeting black brick kilns within the province."

"You could say every operation came up trumps; we caught several batches of criminal gangs engaged in forced labor and illegal money-making."

"But a case specifically controlling mentally disabled persons to make money — we really haven't come across one."

Why can cases of black brick kilns enslaving people never be fully eradicated?

It's because no one is willing to do this kind of work.

In that kind of environment and with that work intensity, pay too little and certainly no one will do it; pay too much and the boss won't make money.

So to keep going, they can only take desperate risks.

Moreover, the methods black brick kilns use to control people are simple and crude — there's only one method: disobey and get beaten.

They aren't picky about people either, mostly taking migrant workers as the main group, and even illegally buying and using abducted and trafficked children.

So whenever it involves a black kiln case, the verdict basically comes down to two crimes:

1. Intentional injury.

2. Illegal detention.

And always in the especially serious category.

"I reckon this organization looks down on those black brick kiln folks as unprofessional."

Yu Dazhang analyzed:

"Clearly, this organization — whether in its layout or in its personnel arrangements — is extremely meticulous, and the target group is also fixed."

"By comparison, they are more covert and more deceptive."

"Whereas the black brick kilns have long been on the police radar; cooperating with people who only get things done through violence is no different from picking yourself a useless teammate."

Everyone nodded after hearing this; it seemed only this explanation fit the logic best.

When Yu Dazhang had been looking at the statement materials earlier, he had already anticipated the future verdicts for these factory bosses.

Forced labor was a certainty.

Knowing that another person uses violence, threats, or methods restricting personal freedom to force others to labor, yet recruiting or hiring others to labor for them.

This counts as assisting forced labor.

Under three years, or criminal detention, plus a fine.

There's also illegal detention.

Judging by the circumstances, it also falls into the relatively light category.

Under three years, criminal detention, or public surveillance.

As long as these mentally disabled persons weren't violently beaten inside the factory, and there's no intentional injury involved, these bosses won't get heavy sentences in the end.

At most three years; light circumstances, one year.

But looking at the case as a whole, these bosses will definitely all bear criminal responsibility.

Prison time is a certainty — the only difference is how many years.

Fl侥幸 thinking won't do… Yu Dazhang figured those bosses thought having their business license revoked and paying a fine would let them slip by.

Too bad they overlooked one thing: the nature of this case is too vile.

Under these circumstances, avoiding criminal responsibility is impossible.

After the meeting, Yu Dazhang returned to the observation room.

By now the interrogation had been going on for over half an hour, and the man in the suit inside named Wang Hao had already lit up a cigarette.

Yu Dazhang saw the surveillance footage and couldn't help but freeze.

He confessed that quickly?

(End of chapter)