Four police officers in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province in Northwest China, have been sentenced to prison after they were caught running a racket where they would use prostitutes as a honey trap to unlawfully fine the prostitutes' clients and keep the money, Xi'an Evening News reported on Jan 6.

A local court hearing held on Jan 5 confirmed that Li Cai, director of the city's Hujiamiao police station, and Liu Changle, a senior officer at the station, in June 2009 encouraged police officers to collect fines by promising them a handsome share of the profits.

The fines were collected to build up secret cash reserves, a majority of which was embezzled by Li and Liu.

Tempted by the cash reward, two policemen, Liu Fengjie and Bo Gengui, as well as a police auxiliary named Wang Weicheng and a resident named Wang Fusheng, set up a trap, asking prostitutes to draw in clients.

After a client was caught, thanks to tips sent by the prostitutes, the police would fine the client, but release the prostitutes without penalty.

Though the court did not reveal the total amount of the fines collected through this way, it said Li embezzled some 3 million yuan ($480,000) from the private coffer.

Li was sentenced to 13 years in prison, with 1 million yuan of his property confiscated, on charges of graft and abuse of power.

Liu was sentenced to 11 years in prison, with 300,000 yuan confiscated. He faced the same charge as Li.

The two other policemen were sentenced to 18 months' and 15 months' imprisonment respectively. Wang Weicheng, the police auxiliary, and Wang Fusheng, the resident, were each sentenced to one year in prison.

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