Fierce gunbattles, frantic car chases and people in disguise－what most people see in films and on television were part of Cai Xiaodong's daily work.

The late 38-year-old, who belonged to the Hani ethnic group was deputy head of the law enforcement investigation team at the Xishuangbanna border administration detachment under the Yunnan General Station of Exit-Entry Frontier Inspection, until he was killed during an encounter with three drug traffickers on Dec 4.

A week earlier, on Nov 26, the team discovered that traffickers planned to smuggle a large quantity of drugs into the country and hide them in the border area. After investigating for a few days, Cai and his colleagues uncovered the details of the plan and decided to arrest the suspects on Dec 4.

At around 2 pm, the three suspects entered the intended ambush site in thick forest along the border. Cai and his fellow officers moved in for the arrest.

The suspects dumped a green backpack containing about 32 kilograms of opium when they saw the police and attempted to flee, shooting wildly at the officers. Cai began to chase them, calling out to his colleagues that the suspects were armed while shielding the officers following him.

Although he was wearing body armor, Cai was shot in the shoulder and leg. He fought back and chased the suspects until he collapsed and was rushed to hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

A memorial was held for the fallen officer in Jinghong city, Xishuangbanna, on Dec 8, and public security organs in Yunnan province are still looking for the perpetrators.

Cai had been a police officer for 15 years, 13 of which he'd spent working on the front lines fighting drug-related crimes in the border area. He had taken part in 358 anti-drug operations, 247 drug cases and seized some 1,600 kg of drugs.

Xishuangbanna is close to the infamous Golden Triangle, the region where Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet. A well known center of drug-trafficking, it is at the forefront of China's anti-trafficking border work.

A total of 180 officers have lost their lives in the course of duty since the Yunnan General Station was founded in 1950. Since 2019, its officers have resolved 4,700 drug-related cases, arrested 4,570 suspects and seized 33 metric tons of drugs and 2,332 tons of drugmaking materials.

"Cai was a tough guy in the fight against drugs, and he was always quick to act when it came to fighting crime over the years," said Wang Yun, one of the late officer's colleagues. "He used to tell us that his father was a former narcotics officer, so he couldn't let him down and wanted to outdo him."

In November 2016, Cai was made deputy head of the investigation team. In July 2017, he came across a network in contact with overseas drug dealers for deals involving as much as 10 million yuan ($1.57 million). After a two-month investigation, officers identified the suspects and the target vehicle.

In the early morning of Sept 29, 2017, they came across the vehicle on a road near the border. When the driver realized that he had entered an inspection zone, he accelerated backward and attempted to escape. Cai chased after him and smashed the car's window to force open the door, pulling his gun to make the suspect stop.

Although his arm was injured by the broken glass, Cai and his team arrested two suspects and seized nearly 170 kg of methamphetamine. He had received first-class, second-class and third-class merits before his final mission for his outstanding performance in fighting drug-related crimes.

Cai's father also worked in criminal investigation and the narcotics division. Because he was constantly at work, Cai rarely saw him as a child.

At the time, he resented his father's absence, especially when he saw classmates with their parents. Cai often wondered what his father was doing that was so much more important than spending time with his family.

He decided to follow in his father's footsteps and become a police officer, and also began leaving home early and returning late. Gradually, he came to understand how hard his father's job had been, as well as the responsibility and glory that came with it. Whenever he spoke about his family, Cai would say that his wife, Xiao Juan, helped him greatly, caring for the family and offering support, and that his parents and parents-in-law took good care of his son and daughter.

"All these years, he rarely picked up our children from school or went shopping with me. But I know the anti-drug work the immigration police do at the border area is difficult and risky, so what I could do was give him my understanding and support," Xiao Juan said.

Before the December raid, Cai took half a day's leave and went with his family to a nearby scenic spot. Even there, he was not able to relax, and after his phone rang repeatedly, he was forced to apologize to his wife and return to work.

In the early morning of Dec 6, Xiao posted a series of family photos on her WeChat moments. "My dear husband," she wrote, "our children said they missed their father last night, but I can only tell them that you have gone up into the sky to pick stars for them, and they can look up at the brightest star whenever they miss you."