A breast implant serial number identified a murdered Vietnamese woman found buried alongside a Nigerian man in Thailand.

The pair was discovered the bodies in woodland in Nakhon Ratchasima province on July 28. Several cartridges and bullets were found two metres from the shallow grave, sparking a murder investigation.

Police were unable the victims as they are believed to have been dead for at least four weeks with their bodies already decomposing.

However, the implants emerged from one of the corpses which provided officers with a vital clue following weeks of dead ends.

The silicone held a unique identifying series of numbers ‘19060170' which was sent to clinics in Vietnam before they found a match with one of their manufacturers.

Doctors traced the implants to Nguyen Thi Van, 33, who had the boob job around two years ago. Vietnam Embassy staff confirmed the name with her fingerprints on August 4.

Police General Suchart Teerasawat said: ‘The investigating team found that the silicone had a serial number. Officers coordinated with the Vietnamese embassy and found a match.

'The identities of the victims will now help us to trace their movements against our immigration records and the places they stayed. We can identify suspects from who they were in contact.'

The woman, buried in a pit in a forest, was discovered by a local who was collecting wild mushrooms at that time.

She was buried under the pit with soil and covered in cement and tree branches with a man who was later identified from fingerprints as Nigerian national Anabon Chka Hen, 38, but their relationship is not known.

Aside from the silicone implants, the woman had other identifying marks such as distinctive tattoos which were believed to have been inked by a Thai artist.

Nguyen had a distinctive diamond-studded crown tattoo on her back, a flower tattoo on her right wrist, a Buddhist Ganesha tattoo and a Japanese-style cat tattoo on her legs.

Police are now checking with the Thai Tattoo Artist Association about the designs to trace her movements in the country.

Investigations into the murder are now ongoing.