Data drives digital border security

Maritime guardian

At the Huangpu border checkpoint, Yi oversees exit and entry inspection for ships and crew within the 83-nautical-mile waters adjacent to the Pearl River.

The waters host routes linking 61 countries and regions, with a high volume of international vessels. While the public admires the Pearl River's grandeur and operators seize opportunities in this "golden waterway", Yi sees a battlefield behind the prosperity.

Aided by data analysis, his team has achieved remarkable results in cracking down on maritime smuggling, human trafficking and cross-border crimes.

They have inspected 215 vessels for port violations, provided clues leading to the China Coast Guard's seizure of 20 smuggling ships with 138 people on board and contraband worth 140 million yuan ($20.02 million).They have also identified four drug-related ships, arresting 49 suspects and seizing 2.6 metric tons of drugs.

Yi's pursuit of precision stems from his father, a meticulous automobile mechanic in his hometown of Guiyang county, Hunan province. "Every part matters to the driver's safety," his father would often say. "Repair cars meticulously; it's the same as being a person; slip up at any step, and you risk falling."

As a child, Yi admired his father and dreamed of becoming a mechanic, but also harbored fantasies of being a brave soldier like those in his favorite film, Railway Guerrillas. At 17, after graduating from high school, Yi followed most of his classmates into the technical school of the local iron mine — a tuition-free program with guaranteed employment, the best option for a worker's child back then.

However, a radio announcement recruiting for the People's Armed Police changed his life. Eager to serve in the military rather than become a technician, Yi shared his decision with his parents, who argued through the night before agreeing.

Yi withdrew from the technical school and enrolled in the PAP. "I had no backup plan, but I never regretted it," he said. After successfully enlisting, he was deployed to Guangzhou in November 1983.

"Joining the military took me out of the mountains and gave me a life different from my parents," he said.

After two attempts, Yi was admitted to the PAP's Guangzhou command college in July 1986, assigned to the border defense cadet company. "I didn't fully understand border defense, but I was determined to master it," he said.

Transferred to the Huangpu border checkpoint's law enforcement and research team in 2007, Yi faced the long-standing challenge that illegal ship activities often occurred far at sea, making detection difficult.

To achieve whole-time and full-area supervision and precise crackdowns, he spent years visiting maritime customs and ports, as well as dozens of docks and shipyards, learning and taking notes. Sensing the big data wave, he integrated the Automatic Identification System with exit-entry data to develop 11 verification techniques for illegal ships.

Yi's dedication is unparalleled — he has monitored single suspicious vessels for hundreds, even thousands of hours. Among the many illegal ships he has uncovered, the longest continuous monitoring of one vessel exceeded 200 days.

He also tracks new drug trends, analyzes risks across routes and maintains a database of high-risk drug-related ships. "Starting with individuals to trace ships is common when investigating drug cases, but Yi's model boosts investigation efficiency and accuracy," a local anti-narcotics officer said.

In February last year, after learning of Guangdong-Hong Kong fishing boats being seized for drug smuggling, Yi adjusted his research direction and collaborated with public security and coast guard units to crack the major case, seizing 530 kg of drugs, 300 cannabis oil cartridges and arresting 17 suspects.

"One person's strength is limited,"Yi often says. "Only when effective methods are promoted and new forces grow can our national border defense be solid."

He has written over 170 reports and research articles, shared by over 100 port border checkpoints nationwide.