The three -- K Meenakshi, 52, a farmer, Sheikh Rajendran, 40, a tailor and P Murugesan, 24, a carpenter, alleged that some men belonging to Malaysia's voluntary immigration officials' squad, called Rela, had entered their flat on March 15 and had arrested them without allowing them to take their passports from their bags.

"I was sleeping in a room when they came at 1.30 am. I had a copy of the passport in my pocket and showed it to them. I kept telling them that the original was inside my bag which was in the same room. But they did not understand me," Meenakshi told the New Straits Times.

No official of the Indian High Commission could be contacted as today is an Indian public holiday.

Sheikh was together with him in the room when he was also arrested. Murugesan who was nearby was also stopped by a Rela member who refused to let him get his passport from the room, the report said.

The three said they were bundled into a lorry and taken to the Semenyih camp where they spent 18 days before being rescued from there by a businessman who had heard about their plight through some other Indians.

"The conditions in the camp were bad. The food was terrible and I was so afraid to eat. I spent days not touching the food at all. It was not fit for human consumption," Sheikh was quoted as saying.

The businessman said the Indians should have been produced in court within 24 hours or even after the 14 days' remand. He claimed that the Immigration officers had also been unhelpful. When the three men went back to their rooms they found their passports, money and belongings were gone.

Meanwhile, Tenaganita, a nongovernmental organisation, said incidents of foreign nationals being hauled up by Rela and being deported were happening too often.

A Rela officer has claimed that only foreigners without passports were detained.

Tourism Malaysia Director-General Mirza Mohammad Taiyab said tourists must be treated with tact and diplomacy. "We should not treat crooks and tourists alike," he said.