Cops were left stunned when a suspected corpse turned out to be a realistic film prop.
The grim scene was uncovered by a family visiting a mountain spot to watch fireflies at night.
They immediately called the police after coming across an apparently burned corpse among a pile of rubbish by the river.
A police team was sent to the Three Gorges region on China’s Yangtze River to investigate the matter on Tuesday (12 Mar).
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Meanwhile, investigators at the police station started checking the database of missing persons last seen in the area.
It reportedly took the police 40 minutes to arrive at the ‘murder scene’.
Operating under torchlight, the police started going through the evidence by the riverbank.
Forensic expert Chen Weixi, a huge fan of TV cop dramas, noticed the charred body was surrounded by fake documents and investigation files.
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He quickly realised the corpse was made of Styrofoam and plastic, and that the items had been used on the production of a TV series.
After filming, the props had allegedly been thrown in the river before washing ashore.
The police have made contact with the production company to establish who is responsible for dumping the props.
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