Nearly nine tons of illegal salt were detected in a town in Haikou, capital of South China's Hainan province, on Wednesday, hinews.cn reported.

Having received reports of a grocery store owner in Haikou storing and selling illegal salt, local department of salt administration checked the warehouse of the grocery store and found illegal piles of the substance.

The owner of the store said he bought the salt from Lingao county of Hainan province, and didn't know it was illegal to sell salt obtained directly from private sources.

The local department of salt administration said it will confiscate the illegal salt, and will hand the case over to the local administration of industry and commerce.