Two army personnel and a retired soldier were arrested after police found an unlicensed shotgun along with a machete in the car they were in at Jalan Siputeh-Parit in Parit, last night.

Perak Tengah district police chief Mohamad Zainal Abdullah said in the 11.30pm incident the trio, aged between 36 and 40, were in a grey Proton Iswara when they were detained by a team from the motorcycle patrol unit (URB).

"They were behaving suspiciously when police arrested and took them to the Parit police station to be documented. A badminton racket bag containing a homemade shotgun along with a sheathed machete were found at the rear right passenger side," he said when contacted today.

According to Zainal, the trio who were travelling from Siputeh heading to Parit, said the reason they were having a gun and a machete in the car was because they were looking for sago worms as fishing bait.

"Investigations were also carried out to find out if they were involved in criminal activities, but all three did not have any criminal records," he said.

- Bernama