Housing official accused of threats had real pistol

The pistol allegedly used by a housing official in Luohe, Henan Province, to threaten a man posing as a journalist was real, according to a statement issued by the Luohe public security bureau on Wednesday.

The announcement is a reversal of an earlier statement from the Luohe city government that said Niu Hao had been carrying a plastic toy pistol.

Niu, deputy director of the housing bureau in Luohe's Zhaoling district, is accused of beating five people who attempted to talk to him about a villa project he had invested in.

Two of those people were reporters from Beijing, who left shortly after the attack. The other three, who claimed to work for local media organizations, were confined in a house for several hours, Henan TV reported.

However, in an online statement released late on Tuesday evening, the city said only one of those three is a registered journalist.

The housing project the reporters were investigating is an illegal construction and will be demolished, the authority said.

After the incident on March 27, Yuan Yuqing, one of the two people believed to have falsely claimed to be a reporter, told police that Niu dragged him to a wheat field, pointed a pistol at his head and threatened to break his legs.

"I was so frightened," he said. "I was surrounded by more than 10 mobsters and one of them threatened to cut my feet off."

He said Niu left 5,000 yuan (US$793) in cash in his car before going to the police station to accuse the reporters of attempting to blackmail him.

Police did not follow up the case because of insufficient evidence, authorities said.

Zhou Dazeng, the registered local journalist, told China Daily that Niu offered him and the other two men 50,000 yuan after they were beaten. In return, he asked them to drop their investigation.

He said he took 25,000 yuan from Niu to cover his medical costs, but would not accept the rest.

"After beating us at my home, Niu forced us to write a statement to admit we were blackmailing him," Zhou said. "We had to write the confession or Niu threatened that his mobsters would beat us and slash us with knives."

Niu was taken into police custody on Saturday on suspicion of illegally detaining the reporters. Three other suspects had also been detained as of Tuesday night.

The case is still under investigation, the government notice said.