The five-day trial of a former senior police official in Southwest China's Chongqing municipality, who has been accused of protecting gangs, rape and taking bribes, ended early yesterday, bringing to a close the highest-profile case yet in the huge mafia crackdown.

A new patrol police force is formed yesterday in Chongqing,which will patrol streets in the municipality 24 hours a day.

The Chongqing No 5 Intermediate People's Court said in a statement that a verdict would be announced at a later date.

Wen Qiang, former deputy police chief and director of the municipality's justice bureau, is accused of taking more than 15 million yuan (US$2.2 million) in bribes to turn a blind eye on gang crimes, and possessing a huge amount of assets of which he could not explain the origin.

Wen expressed his remorse at the end of the trial, claiming himself still "a man with a conscience".

"From a police director to an accused suspect, my experience is a warning to all officials and police. The changes that happened to me have many causes, but I mostly blame myself. I hope I'm the last policeman to stand here," Wen said in court.

During the trial, Wen's lawyers denied the charge of protecting gangs, and they deemed some of the money Wen received from others as "gifts of relations" instead of bribery.

The prosecutors said Wen, as deputy director of the Chongqing municipal public security bureau, covered up and connived with six mafia-style gangs.

The gang bosses are Wen's sister-in-law Xie Caiping, Ma Dang, Wang Tianlun, Yue Ning, Gong Gangmo and Wang Xiaojun.

Most of the gangs were engaged in operating gambling dens, loan sharking or clubs that harbored drug dealers and prostitutes.

Wen insisted that he and Xie had a bad relationship and they didn't even talk. As for the other gang bosses, he said he believed they were businessmen, not criminals, before his detention last August, and was not aware of the illegal businesses they operated.

In explaining the huge property his family owns, Wen disagreed with prosecutors' calculations that a lot of 'grey income' he took was bribery.