Scattered before them was a pile of miscellaneous items.
Underwear, outerwear, toiletries…
And a stack of banknotes, US dollars.
It looked to be about ten thousand US dollars.
The Major's eyes lit up slightly.
The items found in Song Heping's pockets weren't many, and there were no contraband items.
A cellphone, cash...
About 2000 US dollars' worth.
After taking Song He away, the Major and his n took the ten thousand dollars with lightning speed and pocketed it.
Then he said to the others, "Pack everything up, keep it safe, this is all evidence!"
A soldier beside him gathered all of Song He's belongings and put them into a bag.
The crowd escorted Song He to the dock, with great fanfare.
Seeing a large group of soldiers surrounding the dock, the workers there were terrified.
However, Edmond, who stood by the ship's rail, was calm as an old dog, watching the military officers indifferently.
Rushing down from the ship, Edmond ran up to the Major and asked with a surprised look, "What happened? This is our cargo owner, is there any problem?"
The Major looked utterly official, glaring fiercely at Edmond: "Are you the captain?"
Edmond nodded again and again: "Yes, I am the captain."
With a wave of his hand, the Major had several soldiers bind Edmond as well.
"I protest! I am British! Why are you arresting ? I want to see an embassy official!"
"Why? Don't you know?"
The Major's sneer was like a chunk of Antarctic ice.
Edmond continued to proclaim his innocence: "I don't know why you're arresting ! What's your na?! I'm going to file a complaint!"
The Major still kept his sneering attitude: "Complain about ?! You better worry about your own life first!"
"I protest! I protest! I want to see an official from the Great Britain embassy!"
Edmond struggled desperately but was pushed down to the ground by several soldiers, his face and head covered in dust.
In the distance.
The DGSE agents, upon seeing this scene, all revealed smirks.
They were not as influential here as they were in West Africa, where the French could control all governnt departnts and even the military.
Although the countries of West Africa had achieved independence, the legacy of a century of colonialism still allowed France to nurture significant influence and puppets in those nations.
But Eritrea was different.
It was Lao Yin's territory here.
They had to be more careful with their actions.
That's why Bar decided to send intelligence to the Eritrean military through so special channels, essentially using their hand to do his dirty work.
No matter how incompetent the Eritrean Governnt, it would not allow its ports to beco a hub for arms smuggling.
And it certainly would not tolerate arms smuggled here causing casualties to French troops in the Sahel Region.
Such an event would have grave consequences.
Therefore, when they received this intelligence, they imdiately dispatched a large force to Asab Port and captured Song Heping.
Seeing Song Heping caught, Bar was completely satisfied.
This operation could be considered flawless.
It had managed to consider the Britons' prestige as well as achieve the intended goal.
As for detaining Song He and those SA-9 missile systems, they could all be retrieved later through negotiations with the Eritrean Governnt.
If so, it would be a great accomplishnt.
"SIR, can we pack up now?!"
The agent following Bar was pleased with satisfaction. In his view, with Song He and the goods caught red-handed, his fate was sealed.
In Eritrea, arms smuggling is a serious cri.
The maximum penalty can be the death sentence.
"Let's wait a little longer, let's leave after they examine the containers," Bar said.
After all, Bar was an experienced old agent, the station chief no less, not as impatient as his subordinates.
The others had no choice but to return to their surveillance equipnt and wait for the drama to unfold.
However, they were mistaken.
At the request of the Eritrean military, the dock mobilized its maximum unloading capacity, with everyone from the port office to the dockworkers, from the crane operators to the support staff, all in place within half an hour.
Song Heping, with his arms and legs tied, sat on the ground next to Edmond, watching everyone hustle to begin unloading the containers from the cargo ship.
Edmond looked at Song He, and Song He threw him a glance, both corners of their mouths revealing an almost imperceptible smile.
Song He's three containers were placed on the very top of the cargo ship.
Usually, the containers placed on the topmost and outermost layers weren't anything valuable.
The reason is simple: valuable goods must be stored in low temperature, cool conditions.
Only items of little value were left on the outer edges.
The three six-ter-long containers were slowly lowered, and, with skilled handling by the crane operator and the Major's frequent shouts of "Be careful," they were placed on the ground steadily.
The Major walked up to Song He, pointed at his own nose, and said in an intimidating tone, "Rember this, my na is Dobin!"
Song He responded with a wry smile and vigorous nods: "Major Dobin, got it! I'll rember."
The Major swaggered over to the three containers with his team, waving his hand with great panache.
The soldiers ca up and cut off the lead seal, a few of them on each side, pulling open the doors of the container...
Originally, the script should have been that there were a few sets of SA-9 launch systems inside the box.
Everyone present was looking forward to it.
After all, very few people had ever seen this kind of missile launch system.
However, when the soldiers pulled open the doors of the container, a flood of dates poured out, scattering all over the ground.
The people present were all dumbfounded.
Major Dobin was instantly dumbfounded.
He simply couldn't believe what he was seeing.
Dates!?
FUCK!
Was it consistent with what Song Heping had just said?!
Dates for real?!
However, he had received orders from the upper echelons of the governnt.
The orders clearly stated that three containers under the transport of the ship "Man Tianxing" were to arrive at the port early this morning.
And, the three containers were loaded with three sets of SA-9 missile launch systems!
Dates!?
Major Dobin felt dizzy.
"Open the other two containers! Quick!"
He began to break out in a cold sweat and instinctively roared at his subordinates.
At this mont, Edmond seized the opportunity to taunt him, "Major Dobin, could it be that you've made a mistake!? We're a legitimate company, by what right do you treat us like this!? I want to see officials from the British Embassy!"
Edmond started to perform various acts, like an actor who appears on stage after the curtain is drawn, showing all kinds of dissatisfaction and indignity, feeling that his dignity and life had been insulted, clamoring for the embassy staff one mont and the ambassador the next, causing a huge fuss.
"Shut up! There are two more containers!"
At this point, Dobin had no way out.
He could only place his hopes on the other two containers.
In fact, Dobin had already had a premonition by this ti.
An intuition rising from the bottom of his heart told him that the intelligence this ti might have been misleading.
The doors of the other two containers were pulled open, and like the first, they spilled out full of dates.
Dates are a very common food in the northern part of Africa and the Arab World, found almost everywhere, with high calories and sweetness, not commonly favored by the average person.
Shipping dates to Africa was nothing out of the ordinary.
Looking at the full containers of dates, Dobin stood still like a wooden figure for a long while.
Finally, he was still not convinced and roared at his subordinates, "What are you standing there for?! Get in there and search, see if it's been taken apart!"
It had been taken apart.
Dobin's struggle was actually baseless.
Even if a SA-9 launch system was taken apart, it could fill a six-ter container.
Now that a third of the dates had spilled out, it was visually obvious that there was no way a missile launch system could be hidden inside.
Song Heping sat on the ground with a look of soone enjoying a drama, watching Dobin's futile efforts.
Another half hour passed.
Dobin finally despaired, his face paling.
Because there were indeed no weapons in the three containers.
Not even a single bullet could be seen.
All dates!
Dates!
Dates!
Still dates!
The DGSE agents in the distance were also dumbstruck.
Bar's face turned pale.
"How could this be?!"
He turned to look at another subordinate beside him.
"The intelligence was wrong!?!"
"Impossible!"
The subordinate also replied incredulously, "Our intelligence was verified at multiple levels, it couldn't be wrong."
"Then why are there only dates in the containers?!"
Bar felt he had been played.
He suddenly realized that there was nothing simple about this matter.
After a short period of contemplation, Bar concluded that this man called Song Heping didn't seem like any ordinary businessman, and he had investigated his background; the man was a rising rcenary power in Illiguo.
How could such a person holding contracts with the US Army be doing date business!?
It was utter nonsense!
"The intelligence wasn't false..."
Bar finally realized the root of the problem.
"We were played by this guy nad Song Heping! Damn it!"
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