Wuhan -- Li Jun, maker of the notorious computer virus "Xiongmao Shaoxiang", or "Panda burning joss stick", was arrested on Thursday with the approval of Xiantao City procuratorate in central China's Hubei Province.

The virus, which infects program files and flashes a picture of a panda holding three joss sticks, has been spreading through the Internet since December last year. It has infected millions of computers nationwide.

The virus, which can also steal the account names and passwords of online game players and popular chat sites, was listed as the worst computer virus last year by Chinese anti-virus company Rising.

Li and seven other people were detained by the police on February 12.

An anti-virus program written by Li, who repented of his act, has been released on the Internet.