A Polish thief reportedly swallowed six watches, a fork, a spoon, and several cigarette lighters in an attempt to hide his stolen items from the police.

After running from the cops in the aftermath of a burglary in Warsaw, Dariusz Piotrowski hid in the bushes of a nearby property, where he proceeded to swallow the stolen items. The 39-year-old was caught by the police and taken to the police station, where he began to complain of sharp stomach cramps.

“Officers lost sight of him briefly after chasing him, but then found him hiding in the bushes of a garden of a nearby house,” one of the policemen said, according to Metro. “It was while he was crouched down in the shrubbery that he probably took the opportunity to try to mask his crime by eating the objects he had stolen.”

An X-ray showed that he had eaten the items stolen. His ability to swallow objects, Piotrowski claims, has assisted his criminal life. It took surgeons hours to remove the various watches and forks inside Piotrowski’s stomach. It has become an “unusual medical case” in the Polish Anaesthetics’ Society textbook.

According to Patient.co.uk, foreign objects that are small enough to be swallowed typically end up passing safely through the digestive system and into the feces, with an 80 to 90 percent chance of passing through. However, some items can damage the gastrointestinal tract or become lodged, which can lead to life-threatening conditions.