Four men in Yibin, Sichuan province, were detained after they poisoned more than 50,000 kg of fish, Western China Metropolis Daily reported.

Xie had worked as a migrant worker outside Sichuan but returned to his home village in Gaoxian, a county under the administration of Yibin, before Spring Festival.

On Feb 20, Xie and three friends bought pesticide and poured two bottles into the upper reaches of a river in Chuandong village in an attempt to catch fish.

They waited on the riverbank for more than an hour, but no fish surfaced. Suspecting they had purchased fake pesticide, they threw the remaining seven bottles into the river, unaware there were fish ponds in the lower reaches of the river.

When they learned that the pesticide had poisoned more than 50,000 kg of fish, the four men fled Sichuan.

Later, Xie and one man returned and surrendered to the police. The other two men were captured by police when they returned to Yibin earlier this month.