KUALA TERENGGANU, Malaysia - The Terengganu Government has called for prompt action against the Kemaman panty and bra thief before the culprit strikes more fear among families.

State executive councillor Datuk Mohamed Awang Tera said he was disgusted with the perverted acts and wanted the man nabbed quickly.

"This fellow could steal the undergarments of our family members one day," he said when contacted yesterday.

Mohamed, who is the Cukai assemblyman, pledged to work closely with the district police to track down the pervert.

"He could also be suffering from some kind of psychiatric illness," he added.

Mohamed was asked about the undergarment thief after dozens of brassieres and panties of young girls were cut and hung on a tree branch along a road leading to Bukit Samah village in Kemaman, about 275km from here.

Villager Mohd Yusuf Yasa, 43, from Kampung Binjai, Kemaman, said undergarments of young girls from his village were snipped into pieces while others reported their brassieres missing after drying them outside their homes.

"We discovered the cut and stolen undergarments along the road to Bukit Mak Samah two days ago," he said.

Following the scare, he said villagers had warned their daughters not to dry their undergarments out for sometime.

Mohd Yusuf said initially, the suspect was thought to be someone involved in voodoo.

However, he added, after finding the stolen undergarments at the secluded road, villagers suspect that the culprit was a pervert.