Six officials from Hunan province caught in a sex tape scandal in 2010 have been dismissed and are under criminal investigation, the provincial discipline inspection commission said on Monday.

The six officials, all from different parts of Hengyang, a city in the province, were lured into having sex with two young women in a criminal gang, which intended to use sex tapes of the encounters to blackmail the officials, according to a statement by the Hunan Provincial Discipline Inspection Commission.

All six officials - Zhao Anmin, former head of the Hengyang health bureau; Duan Dinghua, former head of the Leiyang Forestry Bureau; Shi Dongsheng, former head of the Leiyang tourism authority; Liu Hong-han, former Party secretary of the Leiyang development and reform bureau; Yin Wen, former vice-president of the Changning committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference; and Kang Junliang, former vice-president of the Hengshan committee of the CPPCC - were punished for their actions, the commission said.