GENEVA - The UN refugee agency has protested to the Malaysian government over the arrest of more than 400 asylum seekers from Indonesia's war-torn Aceh province, said a spokesman.

Some 400 Acehnese refugees were arrested last week as they approached the United Nations High Commission for Refugees' (UNHCR) office in Kuala Lumpur, with another 40 detained yesterday , said UNHCR spokesman Kris Janowski in Geneva.

"We have since protested to the Malaysian government expressing our concerns," he said.

"They were detained by the Malaysian police as they tried to approach the UNHCR office to seek asylum which is their right," Janowski continued.