An anti-drug police officer shot a hotel security staff member dead in a dispute Wednesday in southwest China's Yunnan Province, police said.

The policeman, surnamed Li, worked in the Public Security Bureau of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture.

He had been drinking at the Wujing Grand Hotel in Kunming City, the provincial capital, before he got into a quarrel with the employee at about 7 p.m. Li then fatally wounded the employee, according to the Kunming Public Security Bureau.

The bureau didn't say what the dispute involved.

Li was detained pending an investigation.

(Xinhua News Agency June 25, 2009)