SEREMBAN: Operators of several premises retaliated after their premises were raided by the Negeri Sembilan Islamic Religious Affairs Department by shouting profanities and damaging several vehicles belonging to the enforcement officers.

Nine men believed to be the operators or people engaged by them damaged several vehicles belonging to the enforcement officers and department staff at the enforcement division office here early Sunday, said its chief of operations Ahmad Zaki Hamzah.

They slashed the tyres and scratched the vehicles, puncturing two tyres of a four-wheel-drive vehicle of the department, he said.

"The men confronted several of our enforcement officers, stating that they were unhappy with the operation in Tampin the previous night," he told reporters.

They also waited for our raiding team of officers to return from Tampin and then shouted profanities at them, he added.

The department lodged a police report over the incident, he said, adding that this was the first time that anything like that had happened.

He also said that in the raid in Tampin, the officers arrested three Muslim couples for suspected 'khalwat' (close proximity).

The six-hour operation was launched at 10pm on Saturday and involved 20 enforcement officers.