EIGHT MEMBERS OF STAFF at Shaanxi Aokai Cable Co in Xi'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi province, have been detained for their involvement in providing substandard electric cables for the city's subway system. Beijing News commented on Wednesday:

Founded in late 2012, Shaanxi Aokai Cable Co beat six other bidders to win the competition to supply cables for the city's third subway line. The line was put into use in November and carried about 345,000 passengers on the first day of operation.

Although the safety of the line and its operations have reportedly not been affected, the subway company conducted an investigation and confirmed the cables were substandard after receiving a tip-off that the cables failed to meet industry standards.