The picture shows Zhou Yan (first from the right) of the Passenger Inspection Department of Shanghai Pudong Airport Customs carrying out anti-drug law publicity.

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In recent years, Zhou Yan of the Passenger Inspection Department of Shanghai Pudong Airport Customs has led his "Smart Sword" anti-smuggling working group to introduce the concept of "big data" into the risk control supervision of passenger inspection, and innovatively adopted the "high-risk passenger screening method" to achieve accurate and precise anti-smuggling and ensure entry and exit safety.

¡õ Our reporter Cai Yanhong

12 work diaries, 468 high-risk lists, 3340 key images... After countless days and nights of polishing, Zhou Yan, deputy section chief of the business monitoring section of the Passenger Inspection Department of Pudong International Airport Customs under Shanghai Customs, innovatively proposed the "high-risk passenger screening method", which is like a pair of "eagle eyes" installed at the passenger inspection site, and launched a precise strike against smugglers. From 2013 to the present, a total of 18 drug cases and 150 kilograms of various drugs have been seized, and 16 cases involving endangered smuggling have been seized.

Get out of the predicament and explore new paths in the sea of data

"When you come to the customs passenger inspection, you are in the most ordinary position among the ordinary ones, but young people come in, please refuse mediocrity. Passenger inspection business is easy to understand but difficult to master. Easy to understand and easy to use may cause young people to sigh that high education is useless and lose their will, but if you are a person with a heart, you will make extraordinary achievements in this ordinary position." When Zhou Yan first entered the customs in 2006, the words of the teaching section chief made him remember.

In recent years, with the continuous increase in the number of flights and passengers, the smuggling situation has become increasingly complex, the methods are constantly renewed, and the methods are more covert. "The difficulties in passenger inspection supervision are two major problems: finding the right person and finding the right person." Zhou Yan believes that the traditional customs inspection model has gradually become unsuitable for the anti-drug and anti-smuggling work under the new situation. Only continuous innovation can effectively combat airport smuggling.

Before the innovation, the traditional inspection mode of customs passenger inspection was a "man-machine-dog" mode that mainly relied on the subjective experience of "people", the inspection map of "machines" and the assistance of anti-smuggling "dogs". However, with the explosive growth of passenger flow, the limitations of this traditional inspection mode have continued to emerge, and the difficulty of anti-smuggling and drug inspection has increased. Faced with this dilemma, Zhou Yan issued a "military order": in the field of risk assessment of airport drug control, customs in countries around the world are innovating, and the Shanghai Customs Anti-drug Team must be a pioneer and forerunner.

To this end, Zhou Yan summarized his many years of inspection experience in the front line of passenger inspection, actively tried to extend the analysis and judgment work from the front desk to the back desk, digitally integrate the bustling passenger information, and strive to make the on-site inspection experience informationized and intelligent.

"In the early days, I forced myself to look at thousands of images a day without getting tired of it. If I didn't understand something, I would look at the real object. It took me three stages to develop the ability to distinguish images." Talking about how to distinguish real objects through image recognition, Zhou Yan said that in the first stage, everything that looked suspicious was checked and recorded; in the second stage, too much luggage was checked, and nothing looked suspicious. I knew what strange items were inside without opening the box, and it was easiest to get confused at this time; finally, I persisted and persisted to achieve the goal of separating the true from the false, and what was unconventional in the conventional, and I was trained to judge images.

In the process of exploration, Zhou Yan discovered the breakthrough of "big data". He then led the team to refer to a large number of books and papers, and used thousands of smuggling cases seized outside China as samples, combining the concept of "big data" and the theory of "data mining" for background analysis. From nearly 12 million passenger manifest information, we compared, analyzed and processed them, and found out the characteristics or tendencies of various cases. We wrote 12 work diaries, dug out 468 high-risk lists, accumulated 3,340 key images, and innovatively proposed the "high-risk passenger screening method" of "aggregation", "classification", "simulation" and "integration". Through information technology, we conducted scientific analysis and achieved joint prevention and control by multiple departments, just like a pair of sharp "eagle eyes" to accurately strike smugglers.

Eagle eyes are powerful to accurately detect drugs and capture criminals

The "high-risk passenger screening method" achieved good results in the initial trial stage.

In January 2013, Zhou Yan led the anti-smuggling commando team to use the new method for the first time to control drug suspects.

"This is the first battle of the commando using the new method, and everyone is inevitably nervous." Zhou Yan calmed everyone's emotions while comforting and guiding the team members to control normally. As the flight arrived on time, the commandos had a head-on confrontation with the suspect. To everyone's surprise, the South American aunt in front of them was completely different from the image of the drug lord everyone imagined. The team members calmed down and carefully checked the suspect's carry-on bag, shoes and luggage, but no suspicious items were found. "Is the new method not accurate?" When he hesitated, the paper that fell from the suspect's wallet gave him away. Finally, after further inspection, it was found that he had tied nearly 3 kilograms of cocaine with special bras and underwear.

"The concept of "big data" has helped us achieve precise anti-smuggling, and it has also made us more aware that only by cracking down on these smuggling activities can we better maintain the image of customs and safeguard the security of the country!" Zhou Yan said.

The victory in the first battle brought Zhou Yan great confidence. He and his colleagues continued to work hard to make the "high-risk passenger screening method" more and more mature. Through the three-dimensional anti-drug model that combines mobile forces with static supervision, it has repeatedly made military achievements in the front line of passenger inspection at Pudong Airport Customs.

In 2015, the largest series of cocaine cases in the postal and luggage channels of China Customs were seized, and 80 kilograms of cocaine were seized; in 2016, the largest case of liquid cocaine disguised as red wine in the postal and luggage channels of China Customs was seized, and 20 kilograms of cocaine were seized. The seizure of this series of cases has effectively hit the arrogance of smugglers and has been highly recognized by the General Administration of Customs and the Narcotics Control Bureau of the Ministry of Public Security.

Sowing the seeds of fire and weaving an anti-smuggling protection network

One flower does not make spring, but a hundred flowers blooming together make the garden full of spring. Zhou Yan has never been satisfied with his own radiance and heat, he would rather be a spark that "ignites" a group of young people around him.

With the support of the leaders, Zhou Yan carefully selected a group of keen, studious and hard-working young people from the Passenger Inspection Department of Pudong Airport Customs, adopted the "1+4+X" organizational structure, and formed a "smart sword" anti-smuggling working group of about 30 people with an average age of no more than 30 years old. He taught the team members step by step and taught them the "high-risk passenger screening method" without reservation. Through repeated practical training and assessments, and repeated cooperative investigations, a pair of young "fiery eyes" were trained.

In February 2017, the "Smart Sword" anti-smuggling team locked in a Southeast Asian woman who was suspected of major smuggling on an African flight based on previous data analysis and deployed surveillance on her. When the suspected woman came into the sight of the team members, it was found that she was a pregnant woman. But the team members were not fooled by her appearance, and decisively stopped the suspect when she passed through customs. "After an X-ray inspection, it was found that the full box of shoes carried by the pregnant woman had foreign objects. After opening it, it was found that it was just a pure plastic mold with a number written on it." Zhou Yan recalled that the experienced customs officers did not give up. They carefully inspected the luggage box and found that there was an abnormality in the frame structure. After cutting and inspection, they found a suspicious gray powder object, which was later identified as cocaine.

Zhou Yan frankly said that in this first "injection molded cocaine case" in China, the team members worked together sincerely, with keen detection skills and unremitting efforts, to achieve a breakthrough in drug detection.

"Diligence and wisdom can unsheathe the sword and effectively cut off the smuggling chain." With the upgrading of innovative methods, the "Smart Sword" anti-smuggling team has achieved frequent victories in drug and smuggling work, and has become a bright business card for Shanghai Airport Port.

The "Smart Sword" team has unsheathed its sharp edge, but Zhou Yan has not stopped moving forward. Under the guidance of the General Administration of Customs, he continued to promote the "high-risk passenger screening method" and continuously provided intelligence and technical support to brother customs, assisting the customs in Guangzhou, Beijing, Kunming and other places to seize 16 drug smuggling cases, and seized 60 kilograms of various drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine, gradually weaving a tight protective network for drug and smuggling in China.

During his 13 years of work, Zhou Yan has been awarded the second-class merit once, the third-class merit three times, and commendations six times. He has also won many honors, including Shanghai Advanced Individual in Drug Control, Shanghai Youth Job Expert, Shanghai Youth May Fourth Medal, and Shanghai May First Labor Medal. Recently, Zhou Yan was named the ninth "Civil Servant Satisfied by the People" in China.

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