Zhang Huali, the former head of a Tuyang Police Station in Shenzhen, has been sent to jail for 11 years for accepting bribes and providing protection for gamblers, The Daily Sunshine has reported.

Zhang, 43, was arrested in March this year, almost three years after being removed from his position as Tuyang chief. In August 2009, police raided a villa in Tuyang Subdistrict in Longgang and confiscated 1 million yuan.

The villa was said to have been lavishly decked out like a casino and offered high-interest loans for gamblers.

It later emerged that Zhang had been receiving protection money from the owner of the gambling house. In May 2009 he received 30,000 RMB and in July 2010, already out of a job, he demanded another 10,000 RMB.

This sentencing can be considered a feather in the cap of Minister of Public Security Meng Jianzhu who vowed last year to fight police corruption.