Police acted rightly in detaining the first suspect in the case involving the online publication of explicit celebrity photos.

This was the message from Assistant Commissioner of Police Wong Fook-chuen today, who rejected claims Police made a mistake in not granting the suspect bail.

Mr Wong said Police followed legal procedures in the case and classified the photos 'obscene' according to experience and professional judgement.

Chung Yik-tin, the only suspect denied bail in the celebrity photo case, was released from custody this afternoon after the Department of Justice reviewed the evidence against him and dropped the charge of publishing an obscene article.

The review came in the wake of the Obscene Articles Tribunal's rating of some of the nude photos as 'indecent' rather than 'obscene'. He was arrested on January 30 after five explicit photos were found on his computer.

Mr Wong said Police asked for Chung to be remanded in custody for eight weeks for computer forensics and other investigations as he is believed to be linked to a bank fraud case. He said the Department of Justice and the responsible magistrate considered the request appropriate.

He reiterated enforcement bodies do not need to ask for gradings from the Obscene Articles Tribunal before prosecution, according to law.