A TRAFFIC camera near Dongmen in Luohu District was used to peek into flats in two nearby apartment buildings at night, a Chinese-language newspaper reported yesterday.

The public security bureau is yet to identify the voyeur or voyeurs, who reportedly used the camera, originally installed atop Tongle Building near Yayuan Flyover to monitor traffic, to spy on residents of the two high-rises in Wangyehaoyuan housing estate, the Southern Metropolis Daily said.

The camera was turned towards the apartments between 12 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. daily for eight days starting April 26, the Daily said.

Women taking baths and men undressing were the targets. On May 3, the camera recorded a woman taking a bath for nearly an hour, the paper said. The footages were posted on the Internet.

The voyeur could be a government employee who was on night shift, according to police. More than 10 government departments including traffic police, the city's emergency center, urban management and environmental protection, have the authority to use the more than 200,000 traffic cameras installed in Shenzhen, the police said.

Half of the 700 occupied apartments in the two 34-story buildings could be seen by the camera, the paper said.

The residents were shocked at the revelation.

"It never occurred to me that what I was doing at home was being watched by somebody," said a woman surnamed Zhang who lives on the 33rd floor.

"I think it is a serious crime," said a man named Zhou, who lives on the 15th floor. "If I find I've been filmed, I will take the voyeur to court."

China does not have laws to regulate the use of monitoring cameras in public places. More than 10 Shenzhen lawmakers earlier this year proposed a law be made to scrutinize the use of such cameras, the paper said. But there was no indication that their proposal would be materialized soon.

(Li Jing)