Officials caught gambling amid gang sting operation

Three senior officials in Xixiang county in Shaanxi province were found gambling at a hotel by an anti-organized crime team while it was on a mission to arrest suspected gang members.

A national inspection team working on organized crime arrived in Shaanxi on June 3 and started inspection work. A squad working with the team went to Xixiang on June 13 for inspection.

But one day later, when the squad was in the county to arrest criminal suspects at a local hotel, they knocked on the wrong room door and discovered the three officials and a person named Tang playing mahjong on a working day.

The three officials are Xi Dongxing, head of the Xixiang Public Security Bureau; Wang Jianqing, chief procurator of the Xixiang people's procuratorate; and Qu Xiang, director of the natural resources bureau of Xixiang.

The amount of money that was being gambled was about 38,000 yuan ($5,500), according a statement issued by Xixiang government.

The four were detained for 10 days and fined. Furthermore, all the three officials were removed from their posts.

Xi and Wang were also both placed on one year's probation by the Communist Party of China.

Qu was also under investigation by the county's commission for discipline inspection and supervisory commission for other suspected disciplinary violations.

In January 2018, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council launched a three-year campaign to crack down on organized crime. Since then, 34 national teams headed by ministerial-level officials have been sent to 34 provinces and regions around the country to conduct inspections in three rounds. The inspections will be completed this month.