Police said today they had detained a man on suspicion of making a false bomb alert call that disrupted train services because he wanted to prevent his girlfriend from going out of town without him, media reports said.

The official news agency Bernama quoted Perak police chief Shukri Dahalan as saying that a 25-year-old man was picked up after police managed to trace his mobile phone number.

"The man did not want his 25-year-old girlfriend who also works as a direct salesperson to go to Kuala Lumpur to attend a course," Shukri said.

But as the girl was adamant, the man decided to call the police claiming there was a bomb on one of the bridges along the railway line connecting Bidor and Tanjung Malim town in Perak.

The call caused a shutdown of the northern rail service for several hours on Thursday. Over 1,200 passengers were stranded.

Police in the end found only several empty bottles wrapped in a carpet.

Shukri said the suspect, who was not named, could face up to seven years in jail or a fine for his prank call.

- dpa