A teenage couple who claimed they had entered a hotel room to take shelter from the rain were detained by the Johor Islamic Religious Affairs Department (JAINJ) during an anti-vice operation.
The unmarried pair, aged 19 and 18, were arrested at about 1.50am during a routine enforcement operation conducted at random intervals in the district.
According to JAINJ, enforcement officers knocked on the door of a hotel room suspected of being occupied by a couple after noticing that its air-conditioning was still running.
About three minutes later, a man wearing jeans and a T-shirt opened the door. Further checks revealed a teenage girl sitting on the bed, dressed in long trousers and a T-shirt.
When questioned about their relationship, the girl initially claimed that the man was her cousin. However, further investigations found that they were not related and had no mahram relationship.
JAINJ said the term was merely an affectionate nickname between the pair, who had met through an online application about four months earlier.
The girl frequently uploaded videos on the platform and had attracted numerous followers, including the man, who had approached her to get acquainted before they arranged to meet in person.
When asked why they were in the hotel room, the couple said they had stopped to rest because it was raining and they had been travelling by motorcycle.
JAINJ said the unmarried man worked in Johor Bahru, while the girl, who also had yet to marry, worked in the district.
The couple reportedly admitted that they planned to get married but were not financially ready, given their young age.
They were detained on suspicion of khalwat, or close proximity between an unmarried man and woman, and the case is being investigated under Section 27 of the Johor Syariah Criminal Offences Enactment.
