Doctors in Kosovo say they have successfully removed a mobile phone from the stomach of a prisoner.

       The procedure was carried out by surgeons at the university clinical centre in the capital Pristina last week.

       The 33-year-old prisoner, who has not been named, had been complaining of stomach pains for several days, doctors added.

       The man was taken to the clinic's gastroenterology department, where doctors discovered the Nokia 3310 phone in his stomach.

       Skender Telaku, the gastroenterologist who headed the medical team that performed the operation, told AFP that the two-hour surgery was a success.

       "By endoscopic means, without opening the stomach, we removed the dismantled phone in three parts," Telaku said.

       The patient had told the doctors that he had swallowed the phone four days ago, he added.

       Telaku said that the medical team had paid particular attention to the phone's battery and "potential leakage of corrosive acid".

       "It was like walking through a minefield but everything went well without complications," he said.

       Police then took the patient away along with the Nokia phone, a model originally released in the 2000s.

       It is unclear how why the man swallowed the phone, but authorities suspect that the prisoner had used the device to communicate with people outside.