BEIJING, Jan. 27 -- Chinese police have detained an alleged member of an international gang of hackers in a joint operation with U.S., Indian and Romanian police.

Liu was detained on Jan. 24 and confessed during interrogation that he was hired by other suspects from the United States and Europe to hack e-mail accounts and steal private information, said the Ministry of Public Security here Monday.

Liu's arrest was part of a joint operation with FBI. Indian and Romanian police. Five suspects were caught in the United States, four in Romania and one in India, the ministry said.

Last year, the FBI invited Chinese police to join the investigation of several websites offering e-mail account hacking services, the statement said.