A man has been caught apparently trying to smuggle an eight-and-a-half inch pair of scissors into a jail – by hiding them in his anus.

Staff made the discovery as they processed him for a stay at La Porte County Jail in the US state of Indiana.

Officials said the object was identified in a “peculiar location” after suspicions were raised when the arrested suspect refused to cooperate during a routine search on Wednesday.

The man eventually “reluctantly” agreed to an electronic body scan – when the jail’s assistant commander of operations, Lieutenant Jeff Holt, “observed what appeared to be a foreign object inside the anal cavity of the arrestee”.

Officials said the man continued to be uncooperative but a second scan a short while later revealed the object had moved slightly and could be identified as a pair of scissors.

“A short time later, the scissors were removed from the arrestee without incident,” a spokesperson for the jail added.

Captain Derek J Allen, from La Porte County Sheriff’s Office, said: “Lieutenant Holt is commended for relying upon his training and experience, and successfully preventing a dangerous edged object from making its way fully into the jail.”

Authorities did not reveal further details about the man or what he was arrested for.

They said that since the full-body scanner was first used in the jail in 2017, it had recovered a string of items including tattooing equipment, drugs, and “paraphernalia”.