BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Surgeons operated on a woman who
                   smuggled an automatic pistol into a high-security prison by concealing it in
                   her rectum but was unable to remove the gun from its hiding place.

                   Tirsa Ruiz slipped the 7.65 mm pistol past security checks at Bogota's La
                   Picota prison on a visit last week to a suspected leftist rebel prisoner, local
                   newspapers reported Saturday. But once inside the prison, she realized the
                   gun was stuck.

                   Claiming she was pregnant, Ruiz, 43, complained of acute stomach pains
                   and was taken to a hospital. She stayed there for three days, the gun firmly
                   lodged inside her.

                   Surgeons finally removed the pistol Wednesday after Ruiz confessed to the
                   real cause of her discomfort. On Saturday, she was recovering in the
                   hospital under police guard. She was charged with illegal weapons
                   possession.

                   Prison guards say visitors have often used body cavities to smuggle drugs
                   and liquor to inmates since a court ruling last year banned intimate body
                   searches.

                    Copyright 2000 The Associated Press.