BEIJING — A Chinese photographer acclaimed for his stark pictures of poverty and pollution was arrested by the police while visiting Xinjiang, his wife said on Friday, in an update on a disappearance that has drawn additional attention to the far western region where hundreds of thousands of Muslims have been detained.

The photographer, Lu Guang, went missing in early November while visiting Xinjiang to meet with local photographers who had invited him, his wife, Xu Xiaoli, said by telephone from New York where the couple live. But until recently, she and Mr. Lu’s family had no official confirmation that he had been arrested.

Earlier this week, though, the police called Mr. Lu’s family in China and said that he had been arrested in Kashgar, Ms. Xu said. Kashgar is an ancient city in southern Xinjiang that has been at the forefront of a government crackdown on Uighurs and other Muslim minorities. Ms. Xu first announced the news on Twitter.

近日家属接到喀什警方电话通知，确认 #卢广 正式被喀什地区公安局逮捕。现家属已委托律师与办案机关接洽，提出会见卢广未获准许，亦未拿到任何正式的书面手续。目前警方没有给出更多信息。关于也被国保带走的邀请卢广的朋友，我目前没有他的进一步消息。感谢大家关注！

Still, she and Mr. Lu’s many supporters have no idea why he was arrested.

Ms. Xu said that the police did not tell Mr. Lu’s family what crime he was charged with, nor did they provide a written notice confirming the arrest. A photography-loving friend of Mr. Lu’s in Xinjiang who too was taken away also remains out of contact, she said. She said she did not want to disclose his name.

“I don’t have any further news about the friend who had invited Lu Guang, who was also taken away by state security,” Ms. Xu said on Twitter, referring to the branch of the Chinese police that investigates cases of subversion and anti-government activity.

The government press office in Kashgar did not immediately respond to requests for comment sent by fax on Friday.

Mr. Lu, 57, started off as an amateur photographer while working in a factory, and is well-known in China and abroad for his searing, but often carefully composed, pictures of hard-bitten lives in rural and industrial areas. He has won international prizes for his work, which has included images of people dying of H.I.V. in the Chinese countryside, life in polluted mining towns, and waterways blighted with waste.

But Ms. Xu said in an earlier interview that she did not think her husband had any plans to try to photograph sensitive topics in Xinjiang. The police there are vigilant against any attempts by visitors to approach camps where hundreds of thousands of Uighurs, Kazakhs and members of other Muslim minorities have been detained for indoctrination programs intended to sever their commitment to Islam and nurture loyalty to the Communist Party.

“He told me that he was just touring to take a look, because he hadn’t been there before, as far as I know,” Ms. Xu said. “He was going to show his work to photography lovers and offer commentary on them and so on.”

She said Mr. Lu did not describe any plans to try to photograph the camps or any other sensitive security sites.

“I don’t think he ever mentioned that,” she said. ”He was always working on the environment and pollution.”

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