The fake plastic manhood was filled with 'clean' urine to make sure the footballer's sample was acceptable.

The plastic piece was given to a museum in Buenos Aires but disappeared on a countrywide tour.

A police source told the Daily Star Sunday: "It's quite an unusual theft but I suppose it is valuable because of its former owner.

"We're confident we can sniff it out."

Maradona, 42, tested positively for cocaine in Italy in 1991 and failed another test during the 1994 World Cup.

The paper says that it if had not been for his fake manhood, he would have been caught out more often.

Former Napoli president Corrado Ferlaino said: "If he was still at risk, he was given it containing someone else's urine, which he slipped into his tracksuit.

"Then in the testing room he would fill the specimen jar."