MELAKA: A 60-year-old businessman has cited exhaustion from watching the New Year fireworks display at Bandar Hilir here as the reason he wound up being caught in a hotel room with a masseuse during a Melaka Religious Department operation.
State education, higher education and religious affairs committee chairman Datuk Rahmad Mariman said the man, who is married, was detained with a 42-year-old woman from Thailand during the anti-vice operation between 12.30am and 4.30am on Wednesday (Jan 1).
“The man, a local, admitted that he met up with the woman, who works as a masseuse at a massage centre in the city centre.
"He claimed he had no choice but to stay with the Thai woman at the hotel because he was too tired to return home after watching the fireworks display,” he told the media here.
Rahmad said the duo was among 13 people – seven men and six women aged between 21 and 60 – detained during the operation.
It involved 42 enforcement officers who inspected 17 hotels around the city centre and Alor Gajah, based on public tip-offs and intelligence.
“A non-Muslim woman was also detained to serve as a witness in the case.
"All those detained are being investigated under Section 53 of the Syariah Offences Enactment (Melaka State) 1992 for the offence of cohabitation,” Rahmad said.
If found guilty, they could face a fine of up to RM3,000, up to two years in jail, or both.
