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BEIJING — China is in the throes of the harshest crackdown on corruption in decades, but officials in Shenzhen apparently didn’t get the memo.

While officials across China have been fleeing the country and hiding their money and other traces of their formerly luxurious lifestyles, reporters caught several Shenzhen police officers at a lavish meal, feasting on a giant salamander.

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The salamander — a protected endangered species that can grow up to six feet long, the size of an adult human — is coveted by some in China for its supposed abilities to improve skin and fortify the heart.

Caught on camera by three undercover reporters with salamander in hand, the Shenzhen cops responded by beating up the journalists, according to their newspaper, Southern Metropolis Daily, based in Guangzhou.

Fourteen police officers have been suspended for the assault pending an investigation, according to Shenzhen police on its department’s official social media account of Monday night. The banquet took place last Wednesday, but Chinese newspapers did not get wind of it until the reporters posted about their assault this week.