CHONGQING - Police in southwest China's Chongqing municipality have broken up a criminal ring suspected of using secretly filmed sex videos to extort officials, local authorities said Thursday.

In the latest development in a sex video scandal that has made a splash online and led to the sacking of a district official last year, government sources said ten other officials have been removed from their posts for allegedly appearing in such videos.

The ten officials include county- and district-level officials serving in local government departments or Communist Party of China (CPC) branches, as well as executives of state-owned enterprises.

A sex video featuring one official who was later confirmed to be CPC Secretary of Chongqing's Beibei district Lei Zhengfu was widely circulated online in November.

Lei was sacked days later following an investigation.

The Chongqing Municipal Committee for Discipline Inspection found that the ring had hired women to seduce local officials, covertly filmed their sexual acts and used the videos as tools of extortion.