The New York Times has reported that a Hong Kong-based journalist has been arrested after investigating possible police misconduct.

Bao Choy, a prizewinning freelance producer for public broadcaster RTHK, has been accused of making a false statement about why she was obtaining licence information from a publicly-accessible database. The offence could attract fines of $645 and six months' imprisonment.

In an investigative documentary that aired in July, a year after a mob attack, RTHK journalists looked up the licence plates of vehicles caught on video transporting the suspected assailants and traced them to community leaders in the territory's outlying villages, the NYT said.