Dongguan police chief sacked after raid on sex trade

Guangdong party authorities sacked Dongguan deputy mayor and police chief Yan Xiaokang yesterday for failing to curb rampant prostitution in the industrial hub.

Ten more police officers have been punished in the wake of massive raids earlier this week.

"During Yan Xiaokang's tenure as Dongguan's deputy mayor and public security bureau chief, he did not carry out his duties properly. As a result, the illegal activities of prostitution continued despite several crackdowns, and it has had an extremely bad impact inside and outside the country," CCTV reported the Guangdong party committee as saying.

Yan, 50, was made deputy mayor in 2008 and appointed police chief in February 2012. He will be replaced by Yang Jianghua, the head of criminal investigation for the provincial police.

Following CCTV's exposé of the prostitution networks in Dongguan at the weekend, the city government vowed to root out any forces protecting the syndicates.

Yan's sacking came after 10 police officers were punished for negligence in handling public complaints about prostitution.