A man acted out a sudden convulsive fit, including drooling his saliva, when he was caught by religious enforcement officers for khalwat (close proximity) with his partner in a hotel room in Kuantan early today.

    

But the raiding Pahang Islamic Religious Department (Jaip) enforcement officers did not buy the ruse.

Jaip enforcement chief Ahmad Rafflie Ab Malik said in the Valentine's Day operation, they had to seek police assistance to force open the door using a number of devices.

    

He said they were forced to do that after the couple refused to open the door even after repeatedly being urged to do so.

    

"The moment the door was pried open, the man, a married 28-year-old soldier, went into a seizure in a semi-conscious state and droolig his saliva, in an attempt to dupe us," he told reporters here today.

"When he was nabbed, he was lying on the floor in a fit while his 30-year-old partner, a married woman from Pekan, was hiding under the bed, crying."

    

He said the woman's husband later posted bail for her after going into a tirade and creating a ruckus at the Jaip office.

    

Ahmad Rafflie said the raids were conducted between 6am and 9am today at several hotels here where Jaip recorded 46 cases of khalwat, liquor consumption and exposing the body in public involving offenders between 16 and 40.

    

He said those caught for khalwat would be charged under Section 145 (1) and (2) of the Pahang Islamic Religious Administration and Malay Customs Enactment 1982, and could be fined RM1,000 or sentenced to six months' jail, or both, upon conviction.

    

For consuming liquor, they were arrested under Section 136 of the same Enactment and can be fined up to RM5,000 or jailed for up to three years and given six strokes of whipping.

    

For exposing the body in public, they will be charged under Section 183 of the same Enactment and the penalty is a fine not exceeding RM1,000 or six months' jail, or both.

- Bernama