Beijing police confirmed on Sunday they detained five foreigners more than a week ago who were found to illegally live in the Chinese capital.

In a special inspection campaign on the night of Sept. 21, the Chaoyang district branch of the Beijing Public Security Bureau found 23 foreigners did not take or refused to show their passports or residence certificates in Sanlitun, a bar area popular among both Chinese and foreigners in eastern Beijing.

The 23 people were taken to police department for interrogation as they had violated China's entry and exit law, said the information office of the bureau.

Eighteen of them left the police department after showing their certificates. Five were detained after failing to provide proper certificates, the office said.

"The detention was a normal law enforcement act," said the office.

One of the five detainees was expatriated on September 25 and the four others are still under interrogation.

(Xinhua News Agency October 1, 2007)