HIMEJI, Hyogo -- A teenager required hospitalization after swallowing a fishing hook left in a hamburger he bought from a convenience store here, police said.

The manager of the convenience store that sold the burger reported the presence of two fishing hooks -- another one was found inside the packaging.

Investigators are looking into the matter in the belief that the hooks were deliberately placed there.

The Kobe foodstuffs company that produced the hamburger said it was one of about 1,200 burgers made on Sunday morning. They received notice of the discovery of the fishing hooks on Monday afternoon and have since been trying to recall the rest of the batch.

Police said that the 19-year-old youth ate a hamburger his mother bought him at about 8 p.m. Sunday. Just under three hours later, he began complaining of terrible pains in his stomach, so sought medical treatment. Physicians could not find anything untoward. After he went to a different hospital on Monday and had an X-ray, the youth learned he had a fishing hook in his small intestine. The hook is still there but is not life-threatening.

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