A POLICE investigation in Thailand has literally gotten to the bottom of the theft of valuable diamond.

Police Colonel Mana Tienmaungpak said on Sunday that a doctor wielding a colonoscope and the medical equivalent of pliers pulled the 6-carat gemstone worth a 10 million baht ($392,000) from the large intestine of the Chinese woman alleged to have stolen it, after nature and laxatives failed to get it out.

The woman and a male partner were arrested on Thursday night at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport on their way out of Thailand on the basis of surveillance video at the jewellery fair where the duo allegedly switched a fake stone for the real one after asking to inspect it.

media_camera Bum job ... The woman was smuggling the stolen diamond in her large intestine (generic picture). Picture: Supplied

The suspects initially denied involvement, but X-rays showed a diamond-like object in the woman’s intestine, and police said she then confessed.

Mana, the chief investigator for the case, said the woman agreed to Sunday’s delicate operation after being told that the gemstone risked injuring her. The diamond’s owner identified the stone after it was removed.

Hiding gems in the digestive system is a rare but not unknown ploy.

The method is more commonly used by drug smugglers, who swallow condoms filled with cocaine or other illicit substances to get them past customs checks.

media_camera Difficult procedure ... cops used pliers to remove the diamond (generic picture). Picture: Supplied

In 2012, police in South Africa arrested a 25-year-old man who they said swallowed 220 polished diamonds in an attempt to smuggle them out of the country. The diamonds were estimated to be worth about $2.3 million, and were discovered by a body scan as the man was waiting to go through security at the international airport near Johannesburg prior to taking a flight to Dubai.

Originally published as Bizarre place cops found $400K diamond