Man using poppy straw as seasoning 'masterstroke' for cooking got arrested. Police found a total of 939 poppy plants in his field. Screenshot of 163.com

A 64-year-old man in Shaoxing, East China's Zhejiang Province, has been taken away by police for planting 939 poppy plants in the field. The man's defense was simple: He was only planting them so that he could use some of them as "magical" seasonings for cooking, after he heard the "recipe" from others and found himself obsessed with the flavor for the past two years.

The police first noticed the man surnamed Si after someone in his village commented that he always boasted about his cooking, saying that he had a "magical" ingredient. The anti-drug brigade suspected that it could be problematic and took a visit to Si's home. 

As expected, they found a total of 939 poppy plants in his field, and Si confessed that he was using them to add some flavor into the dishes to make them more delicious. For two years, he had become obsessed with the flavor and found it hard to leave it out. Currently, Si has been arrested according to the law.