A man in Beijing, China, has been arrested for extorting money and goods from restaurants, both Taiwanese and Chinese media reported.

He went around doing so by putting cockroaches in his mouth and spitting them into his food to blackmail the restaurants.

The actions of the man, surnamed Chen, came to light following an incident on Jun. 11, at a high-end restaurant located in Beijing's Ganjiakou subdistrict in Haidian.

Restaurant staff found the man "unusually calm"

According to the manager of the restaurant, Chen showed the staff a cockroach after finishing his meal, claiming that he had eaten a foreign object in his food.

The manager then proposed to withdraw his meal and provide him with a free order.

A staff member further noted that Chen was "unusually calm" during negotiations.

He eventually refused the restaurant's offer and decided to pay for his RMB280 meal (S$52) as per normal, and the restaurant staff assumed the matter was settled.

Demanded 10 times the amount he paid as compensation, threatened to post incident online

Two hours later however, Chen made a phone call to the restaurant and demanded that he be compensated ten times the amount he paid for his meal.

He also threatened to post the incident online.

In order to preserve the restaurant's reputation, the manager, following negotiations with Chen, agreed to pay RMB1,000 (S$186) as compensation and buy him a packet of cigarettes.

Following the incident, the restaurant staff, out of suspicion, decided to check the cockroach the man showed to them and found that it did not come from the dishes he ordered.

How exactly the restaurant conducted its check was not reported.

A staff member was further quoted by ET Today as saying that the restaurant is strict about its hygiene standards and that they have a professional pest control team.

Suspecting that they had been blackmailed, the restaurant made a police report.

Can of cockroaches found among his belongings

Chen was subsequently discovered by the police to be living in a hotel within the subdistrict and was arrested at his room.

A can of chewing gum that was used to store cockroaches was found among his belongings, and was found to contain as many as 20 of the insects.

Following this discovery, the man admitted to his scheme and said the rationale for his actions was because he was jobless and running out of money.

Put cockroaches in his mouth to blackmail restaurants for money, tea, alcohol and cigarettes

According to Chen, he had bought the cockroaches in his hometown and cooked them, Chinese media further reported.

Once he had cooked the cockroaches, he would pick some out to place inside the can.

Prior to entering a restaurant, Chen would put one of the cockroaches in his mouth, then spit it out while he was eating his meal.

Afterwards, he would show the cockroach to the restaurant's staff, initially refuse to receive a free order, then subsequently threaten them with blackmail.

The police added that by targeting high-end restaurants with such a method, Chen was able to make RMB3,000 (S$558) as well as obtain other items such as cigarettes, alcohol and tea.

Chen is currently under police detention, on suspicion of extortion.

Top left photo by Roger Brown via Pexels, right image via via 163.com