Chinese restaurant served opium-laced noodles

A noodle restaurant owner in China's northern Shaanxi province always had customers coming back for more and now police know why — he added ground poppy seeds, the same substance from which opium is made.

The owner, who goes by the name Zhang, has been detained for the past 10 days after he admitted buying 2kg of poppy seeds, grinding it into powder form and then adding it to his noodle dishes in a bid to make them taste better and improve business, the Hua Shang Bao newspaper reports.

Police became aware of his scheme when they pulled over a 26-year-old driver during a routine traffic stop and tested him for drugs shortly after he had consumed a bowl of noodles.

The driver, Liu Juyou, tested positive for opium and was detained for 15 days on charges of drug abuse.

He was only released when family members came forward to say they had also eaten at the same restaurant and tested positive for opium.

The newspaper said the risk of becoming a drug addict from eating opium-laced noodles was unlikely.