Malaysian police raided a restaurant cum lounge in the capital city of Kuala Lumpur on early Sunday morning and detained 32 people - 28 men and four women - after they were found to have tested positive for methamphetamine, according to the state-run Bernama news agency.
Kuala Lumpur's Jalan Yap Kwan Seng
The report, which was carried in newspapers including The Star and The New Straits Times on Sunday, quoted Kuala Lumpur narcotic police investigating officer ASP Mohd Ashril Md Johar as saying that the venue described as a "gay club" was “packed with about 500 patrons, mostly men dancing in an erotic manner.”
The police spokesperson said there were about 500 men and 34 women at the venue which the police had monitored for a week prior to the raid.
According to Hafidz Baharom who was present during the raid, the venue located at Jalan Yap Kwan Seng is said to have been hosting a "gay-friendly party" on the night - as it usually does on Saturdays - when the police raided the establishment at 1.30am.
He told Fridae that all local patrons had to submit to a urine test while foreigners at the club were asked to leave.
Although the report said that Eramin 5 was found "strewn all over the floor", Baharom, a writer and contributor for The Malaysian Insider said that he did not see any pills as described.
"There were no pills on the upper floor where I was, nor were there any pills in the lounge where the police had set up their urine test counter."
But he conceded that he did not get a "good look at the outside balcony on the second floor."
Baharom says this is the second raid on this club in the past eight months; the prior raid being a "gay-friendly" fundraiser event known as 'Red Carnival' and was organised by Malaysia's PT Foundations in November last year.
He also noted the presence of the state-run Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) camera crew during the raid, snippets of which was shown on the TV news on Sunday.
The 32 people have been charged and released pending a second urine test. They face up to three years jail sentence and a fine of RM5,000 under Section 15(1)(a) Dangerous Drugs Act 1952.