Guards at a prison in Belgium are said to have angered female lawyers after forcing them to remove their bras under the pretence that the metal wiring and clasps are setting off security scanners.

But guards at Hasselt jail have insisted that the metal detectors are so sensitive that even bras can set off the scanners.

Joseph Rowies, who represents criminal barristers in the Flemish city, said the women lawyers have no problem with the security checks, but they have noticed that the prettier the visitor, the more sensitive the scanner gets.

"The metal detection checks seem very difficult to carry out when a pretty, young lawyer or visitor reports to the prison gate," the Telegraph quoted him as telling the Het Nieuwsblad newspaper.

"And then it becomes a little something to amuse the guards.

"Time and again they let the metal detector go off. First, the shoes, then the jewellery. And, since the detector still beeps, they demand that the lady in question take off her bra," he revealed.

Rowies revealed he has told prison authorities that he is receiving at least one complaint a month from furious female barristers.

"It always strikes me that the younger, and the more babe-like, a lawyer is, the more difficult the device becomes," he said.

"I've suggested that the prison guards to wear name tags so we can verify if it is always the same officers. But the management has refused for security reasons," he stated.

Laurent Sempot, a spokesman for Belgium's directorate-general of prisons, dismissed the claims as "far-fetched".

"We have recently tested the metal detectors. They functioned perfectly," he said.

"I've visited Hasselt prison several times with female colleagues and none of them was asked to loosen her bra. Those who set off the device cannot enter. Those are the rules," Sempot added. (ANI)