BEIJING - CHINA has jailed a senior police officer for 11 years for taking bribes and dereliction of duty in connection with a night club fire that killed dozens of people last year, local media said on Wednesday.

Fireworks set off during a dance show at an illegal night club in Longgang, a blue-collar area just across the border from Hong Kong, sparked a blaze that killed 44 people and injured at least 64 last September.

Investigations later found the club was unlicensed but had been allowed to stay in business despite being a den of prostitution and drug-taking, the Southern Metropolitan Daily said in a report posted on its website (www.nddaily.com).

Chen Xuming, deputy chief of the Longgang Public Security Bureau, had been 'seriously irresponsible in his work, and had made no effective crackdown on the unlicensed venue,' the paper quoted the Yantian District People's Court in the southern city of Shenzhen as saying.

Chen had also received perks and taken 60,000 yuan (S$13,240) in bribes from the club's owners, the paper said.

China's night clubs have a grim record of fire safety and often act as fronts for prostitution and drug-selling under police protection.

A fire at a karaoke club and bath-house in Tianshifu township in north-eastern Liaoning province in 2007 killed at least 25 people and injured dozens. -- REUTERS