Police in Jinan, capital of East China's Shandong province, have seized tons of turbot fish contaminated with banned drug furacilin, and arrested three suspects, dzwww.com reported on Monday.

Furacilin has been banned as a veterinary drug by the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture since 2005 due to health risks that could lead to cancer and birth defects.

In May 2014, food safety regulators detected furacilin residue in turbot sold at a local hotel in Jinan.

Then in December, police found the hotel had bought the turbot from a vendor surnamed Yu at a local fish market. After telling Yu to change his purchasing channels, police again found in two separate raids during February and March that his turbot still contained residue of the drug. As a result, Yu was arrested and more than 500 kilograms of the remaining turbot seized.

He had been engaged in the seafood trade for more than 20 years. The turbot Yu sold was from an aquatic farm in Rizhao, another city in Shandong.

Turbot can develop a bowel infection and stop growing after eating too much food. The farmer, surnamed Fu, fed furacilin to the fish as a cheaper alternative to anti-infection drugs in order to lower costs.

Fu was arrested in late May, while in early June, Chi, who had provided furacilin to Fu, was also arrested. Police also seized more than 10 kilograms of a powdered drug alleged to be the banned substance.