Thousands of used condoms that were cleaned and sold as new seized by police.

Police on Thursday in Vietnam confiscated an estimated 345,000 used condoms which had been cleaned and resold back to the public as new.

Police said the bags weighed more than 360 kilograms (794 lbs), equivalent to 345,000 condoms, according to VTV.

Footage broadcast by state-owned Vietnam Television (VTV) had earlier on shown dozens of large bags containing the used contraceptives scattered across the floor of a warehouse in the southern province of Binh Duong.

The owner of the warehouse said they had received a “monthly input of used condoms from an unknown person,” state newspaper Tuoi Tre reported.

A woman detained during the bust told police that the used prophylactics were first boiled in water then dried and reshaped on a wooden phallus before being repackaged and resold.

VTV said it was not clear how many of the recycled condoms had already been sold. The detained woman said she had received $0.17 for every kilogram of recycled condoms she produced.

Neither she nor the owners of the warehouse were available for comment.

By Shadrack Andenga Odinga

shadrackandenga@gmail.com