Taipei, July 24 (CNA) Six men from Yunlin and Chiayi counties could face from 10 months to three years and six months in prison for poisoning fish, the Yunlin Prosecutors' Office said Tuesday.

Yu Ting-cheng, one of the defendants, allegedly purchased at least 64 bags of sodium cyanide, a highly toxic controlled chemical, from Lin Hai-hung in Yunlin between March and May, each of which weighed 25 kg, according to the prosecutors.

Yu and four other men used some of the chemical to poison fish in coastal areas of Chiayi on at least nine occasions, according to court documents.

The law enforcement authorities seized 232 kg of fish that was destined for sale to vendors, regular consumers and fish farm owners, the prosecutors said, adding that the remaining 1,075 kg of sodium cyanide seized when the group was nabbed in May was the largest amount found in such cases.

(By Yeh Tzu-kang and Kendra Lin)
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