Two environmental protection volunteers investigating pollution detained on suspicion of “engaging in prostitution.”

(BOXUN) At 5 a.m. on Thursday December 3, 2015, two environmental volunteers (one male, one female) who traveled to Ningde in Fujian Province were detained by local police on suspicion of “engaging in prostitution.”

Caixin Magazine reports that around 5:30 a.m. on December 3, 2015, two NGO environmental volunteers—a man from Nature University surnamed Xu and a woman from Tianjin’s Green Collar surnamed Tian—were detained by local police in a Jiaocheng District, Ningde City, Fujian Province hotel on “suspicion of engaging in prostitution.”

After 6 p.m., a Caixin Magazine reporter contacted the Ningde Municipality Jiaocheng District criminal investigation bureau. They confirmed that this case is under investigation and at present no comment can be made.

Nature University pollution prevention director Mao Da told the Caixin reporter that before being taken away by police, Xu had been investigating Ningde’s nickel alloy industrial park industrial pollution and wetland destruction problems. He’d traveled to the area many times since early 2015, this time he was continuing his investigation and research.

Tianjin Green Collar official Dong Jian told the Caixin reporter that Tianjin Green Collar was also investigating Ningde’s nickel ore pollution. “On Tuesday December 1, 2015 we arranged for Xu and Tian to take this work trip to Fujian to investigate the Dingxin Nickel Corporation and rectification of the status of the United Group.”

Because the two can’t be contacted, there’s no way to learn what happened before and after the Tianjin Green Collar and Nature University workers were detained.

Tianjin Green Collar staff member Zhu Qing told the Caixin reporter that this time Xu had rented an apartment in Ningde for a month in preparation for a follow-up investigation, but was told by the landlady she’d been “pressured to make him leave.”

The two NGO organizations say that Xu had been exposing the polluting activities of Ningde Dingxin Nickel and other enterprises, and was considered a “sensitive person” in Ningde so he didn’t use his identification card to rent hotel rooms and had no choice but to share rooms with Tian.