Plain clothes police officers arrested a Beijing writer who previously accused the local government in Weinan, Shaanxi Province of embezzling funds meant for residents who were forced to relocate because of the Sanmenxia reservoir project.

Xie Chaoping, 55, wrote about how the project impacted residents and accused the local authorities of stealing money set aside for people.

Seven police officers took Xie from his apartment in Shijingshan district of Beijing August 19, Beijing News reported Wednesday.

He was reportedly accused of "illegal trading."

Xie's lawyer, Zhou Ze, said in his microblog that Xie's book mentioned that the local gov-ernment in Weinan misused funds earmarked to help residents who had to move for a second time in 1985. Zhou believes Xie's arrest was related to the book.

"Xie's book was published by Flash Magazine, and Xie himself is just a writer, not a publisher or a seller," Zhou said. "Even if the book was published without the approval of higher authorities, it is the magazine that should be charged, not the writer."

An official at the publicity department at the Weinan public security bureau told the Global Times Wednesday that the investigation was ongoing, and that no explanation was possible about the arrest. "Right now, I have as little information as you do," the official said.

Xie's daughter told the Global Times Wednesday that Xie was held at a local police station for nearly two weeks, and the local police provided no explanation about her father.

"My father's mobile phone was also confiscated by the police and we cannot contact him," she said.

Xie, who was a reporter at a magazine affiliated with the Procuratorial Daily from 2006 to 2009, interviewed residents in Shaanxi and decided to publish a book about them, Beijing News reported.

He paid 50,000 yuan ($7,340) to Flash Magazine to publish the book in May. Some 10,000 copies of the book were inserted into the magazine as a supplement.

Wei Pizhi, the executive editor-in-chief of Flash Magazine, said that publishing the supplement violated regulations because they did not report their plans to the authorities before publication.

Dong Shengxin, who is acting on behalf of the residents Xie wrote about, said that he took 4,600 books to his hometown June 26 and all were confiscated by the local government under the guise of cracking down on illegal presses and publications.

Concerns over the working conditions of journalists were raised recently following a series arrest of reporters.

Four reporters were detained by police Saturday for probing the plane crash in Yichun, Heilongjiang Province that killed 42 people.

Police later said the detention was a misunderstanding.

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