Two men were arrested after putting a blade into a hotpot in an attempt to get a free meal in eastern China.

CCTV footage filmed in the city of Shanghai on February 14 shows a man grabbing some food and put it into a pot of hot soup to cook.

In another clip, the man took a blade out of the pot of soup and showed it to a waiter.

According to reports, the hotpot chain restaurant Haidilao did not charge the two men for the meal and promised to negotiate compensation the next day.

Since the restaurant manager thought it was suspicious and checked the surveillance camera, he found that a man suddenly changed to use his left hand to grab the food and put it into the pot before the incident happened.

The manager then reported the case to the police. The two men finally confessed their crime.

The two men said they saw a video of a restaurant compensating 1,500 yuan (£180) to a customer who found something in their food and came up with the idea.

Police have arrested the two men, reports said.

The video was provided by local media with permission.

近日，上海浦东，两男子在海底捞火锅上海博山东路店就餐时，在锅里吃出一段生锈的美工刀刀片。于是火锅店免去了两人餐费，并约定第二天商谈赔偿。火锅店负责人总觉得疑点重重，查一夜监控发现事有蹊跷，向警方报案。
据负责人介绍

后厨菜品处理的工作流程中

根本不可能出现美工刀

所有送到餐桌上的菜品

也都有专员进行检查

不可能漏看这么明显的“异物”

带着同样的疑问

民警又跟随负责人又

来到了火锅店监控室
复看整个用餐过程。


据海底捞提供监控视频显示，视频中并没有两名男子将刀片放入火锅内的直接画面，但其中一名男子在用餐过程中左手始终都放在桌下，直到事发前，才用左手抓取了一片毛肚放入锅中。
根据这一异常行为，经上海市浦东区警方调查，两人坦白了这完全是二人的“自导自演”，因在某短视频平台刷到一条视频，说是在用餐过程中吃到异物最终索赔1500元，于是，这两名来沪打工的男子在海底捞火锅店里上演了这样一出闹剧。目前，两人因敲诈勒索行为被浦东警方依法行政拘留。（视频由上海台提供）