Zhang Haitao, 28, a resident of the central city of Zhengzhou who had seen his boyhood dreams of becoming a cop frustrated by lack of education, started posing as one in 2005, the China Daily said.

Zhang obtained police uniforms, ID badges and equipment -- some fake and some real -- and roamed the streets of Zhengzhou offering advice on traffic violation cases, according to the paper.

He told his wife he had got a temporary job in the city's police traffic unit, the paper said.

He often had friendly chats with "colleagues" at the unit, and it was there on Tuesday that officers confronted him with his real identity, following a tip-off, it said.

Zhang argued he had caused no harm to anyone -- a claim that might be disputed by An Haixing, a police officer whose identity he had assumed.

An was in trouble several times this year over complaints about "his" behaviour, in one instance refusing to pay a shop owner for repairs to his bicycle.

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