The employee of the British Consulate General in Hong Kong is being detained for 15 days for soliciting prostitutes, Shenzhen police told the Global Times on Thursday. 

Police in Luohu district said Simon Cheng Man-kit, 28, violated the 66 article of China's law on administrative penalties for public security, which states that people who engage in prostitution or visit prostitutes shall be detained for no less than 10 days but no more than 15 days. They may also be fined for 5,000 yuan ($705).  

If the circumstances are relatively minor, the person shall be detained for a maximum of five days or fined a maximum of 500 yuan. 

The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed Wednesday that an employee of the British Consulate General in Hong Kong was detained and is being held by Shenzhen police.

The employee was given 15 days' administrative detention by Shenzhen police for violating China's regulation on public security management, Geng Shuang, a spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a routine press conference on Wednesday.

In response to questions on why the police did not inform Cheng's family about his detention, the Luohu police said it was Cheng's request.

Western, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and the island of Taiwan media have extensively reported on the case in which Cheng "went missing" during his trip to Shenzhen, and the UK's Foreign Office also expressed concern over the incident.

Those reports linked the incident to the current complicated situation in Hong Kong, politicized the case and highlighted his family's lack of knowledge on his whereabouts.