Colombo , Sri Lanka ( CNN ) -- When 58-year-old G. Siripala , a Sri Lankan prisoner serving a 10-year sentence for theft , was escorted by armed prison officials to Colombo 's National Hospital with severe back pain , doctors rushed him for an X-ray . Doctors thought he might have orthopaedic complications , a source familiar with the matter told CNN . `` But the X-ray showed a cell phone and two hands-free kits . '' Medical staff prepared to carry out a surgical procedure on the prisoner , the source said . `` However , the man said 'Sir , sir , please give me a moment . ' He coughed , wriggled , shrugged his muscles and the items fell on the ground , '' the source said . The awkward incident reveals how Sri Lanka 's prison officials discovered the latest round of phone smuggling into the high security Welikade Prison , in the northern sector of the capital , Colombo . The prisoner explained his situation to the doctors , recounting how had been chatting on the cell phone with a relative when prison officials carried out a surprise check on his ward , the source said . `` He had no place to hide it . So he thrust it in his rectum together with the two hands-free kits , '' he said of the prisoner . At nighttime , to avoid detection , the prisoners cover themselves with a bed sheet , hide the phone near the body and use the hands free kit , the source added . Cat caught with saws , drills and phone in Brazil prison . Siripala 's undoing came when the person he had been speaking to rang back . The ringing tone came from his back and prison officials grabbed him , the source said . The prisoner alleges he was beaten by prison guards , causing the back pain that resulted in his trip to hospital and subsequent X-ray . Prison officials contacted by CNN declined to comment on the matter because there was no such complaint of abuses . Siripala was kept under observation for a day at the National Hospital and discharged on Friday , the source familiar with the matter said . A prison guard stood by his side at all times until he was escorted out in a prison van . Smuggling of cell phones into prison is an all-too-common occurrence , forcing prison officers to use hand-held detectors , Commissioner General of Prisons P.W . Kodippili told CNN . `` Most prisoners , particularly when they are taken to courts for cases , return with mobile phones given by outside parties . We have minimized the problem and are on the alert and catch them when they come in , '' said Kodippili , who is in charge of all of Sri Lanka 's prisons . According to Kodippili , the `` worst offenders '' are female prisoners . He told how one , a drug addict , had hidden two mobile phones in her person after a trip to court . `` She had gone to the toilet and sought the help of another prisoner to use a thin piece of iron to pull it out . She was wounded and bleeding . We had to rush her to the prison 's hospital . '' Kodippili said jammers have been installed in prisons . However , one mobile phone operator had a tower near Welikade Prison and this was causing a technical glitch . `` Very soon we will introduce body and parcel scanners , '' he added . Sperm smuggling alleged at terror prison .
An X-ray reveals a cell phone and two hands-free sets hidden in a prisoner 's rectum . Sri Lanka 's prisons chief says the smuggling of phones into jails is a big problem . Prisoners talk at nighttime using hands-free sets under the covers to avoid detection . They often acquire the cell phones when they leave the prison to attend court .