A SLOVENIAN WOMAN has been arrested after allegedly cutting off her hand with a circular saw to get nearly €400,000 in insurance compensation.

The 21-year-old and a 29 year-old relative, who was also arrested, face up to eight years in prison on charges of attempted fraud.

The woman is believed to have staged the incident with three relatives earlier this year, shortly after signing life and injury insurance contracts with five insurance companies.

All four were arrested initially, but two were released.

The woman was hoping to get around €380,000 in compensation and a life-long monthly payout of around €3,000, police said.

“With one of her accomplices, she intentionally amputated her hand at the wrist with a circular saw, hoping to stage it as an accident,” police spokesman Valter Zrinski told a news conference.

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The group intentionally left the hand behind rather than bringing it with them to the hospital, hoping to receive three times higher compensation for permanent disability, police added.

But authorities managed to pick up the hand in time, and doctors in a hospital in the capital Ljubljana managed to sew it back on, Zrinski said.

With additional reporting from - © AFP 2019