A man who tried to smuggle drugs into prison 18 years ago has finally recovered the stash which he had hidden up his nose.
The man had placed the cannabis in a rubber balloon while attempting to hide it from prison guards in a facility in Australia.
His girlfriend had smuggled the drugs into the prison during a visit.
However, after the inmate successfully brought the drugs into jail via his right nostril, he was unable to retrieve the balloon and mistakenly believed that he had accidentally swallowed it.
The balloon developed into a stone in the nasal cavity, known as a rhinolith, which formed as calcium and magnesium salts built up around the rubber over the next two decades.
This caused the man to suffer regular sinus infections and frequent complaints about nasal obstructions, but it wasn't until these developed into painful headaches that he sought treatment.
Doctors then performed a CT scan and discovered a "rubber capsule containing degenerate vegetable/plant matter" which was then surgically removed.
Three months later, the patient reported that all of his symptoms were gone.
The doctors reported on the "unique case" in a paper published in the British Medical Journal under the heading of "a nose out of joint".
Reporting by IRN
