A Chinese man was recently sentenced to three years and three months in prison and fined 10,000 yuan ($1,400) for repeatedly spiking a colleague’s drink with a ‘truth serum’ to steal their work plans.

Chinese media recently reported the strange case of a Shanghai man who ended up in prison for reportedly mixing a ‘truth serum’ in a workmate’s drink on multiple occasions so he could find out his work plans. The man, surnamed Li, allegedly came across the truth serum during a business trip and was intrigued by the vendor’s claims that only a few drops could untangle anyone’s tongue and reveal all their secrets. Li bought the miracle product and decided to use it on his colleague, Wang, whose secrets he wanted to learn.

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On August 29, 2022, during a dinner with Wang, Li poured a few drops of the serum into his colleague’s yellow wine and beer, causing him to feel dizzy and confused enough to seek medical attention over the next couple of days. However, Li didn’t achieve his goal of learning Wang’s work plans, so a few months later, on October 13, 2022, during another dinner, Li once again used the truth serum, once again mixing the substance with beer, causing his colleague to experience dizziness and vomiting.

On November 22, Li used the truth serum for the third time, during another night on the town with Wang, causing him to seek medical attention after experiencing similar symptoms to those in their previous meetings. It was only then that Wang realized he had only experienced his symptoms after going out with his colleague and began to suspect foul play.

Wang had his blood and urine tested, and the result came back positive for sedative components, specifically clonazepam and xylazine, both potent central nervous system depressants. He went to the police with the evidence, and when they raided Li’s home, they found his mysterious truth serum, which turned out to contain both clonazepam and xylazine.

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Confronted with the evidence, Li confessed to spiking his colleague’s drink with the truth serum, hoping to learn his secret work plans. Recently, the Shanghai Jing’an District People’s Court found Li guilty of inducing drug use through deception and sentenced him to over three years in prison and the payment of a 10,000 yuan ($1,400) fine.

Although neither Wang’s work plans nor his current condition following the administration of the sedatives have been revealed, people online speculated that his plan must have been important if Li went to this much trouble to learn more about them.

“What kind of work plan requires this level of performance? Are we talking about a deal worth millions or tens of millions?” one Weibo user wondered.