MIRI, Malaysia: An unemployed man had an unconventional way of proving his love to a woman - he abducted her and locked her up in a room in a shoplot here.

The love-struck man, who is in his early 30s, tracked the woman down to a remote village 60km south of Miri.

A source said the woman, who lives in Bekenu, is a clerk at a government land-development agency, while the man is jobless.

The incident occurred on Sunday when she was driving along the Miri-Bintulu part of the Pan-Borneo Highway with her sister when the man, whom she had dated over the last two years, suddenly appeared and overtook her car.

She was forced to stop by the side of the road before the man dragged her out and bundled her into his car. He took her to Miri where she was dragged into a room and locked in.

All this while, the man told the woman that he was showing how much he loved her.

The woman, however, did not see the romantic side of his story, and she managed to escape and ran to a police station for help the same night.

In her police statement, the woman said the man had been wooing her and had wanted to start a serious relationship but she declined and broke up with him recently.

Acting on information, a team of policemen ambushed the man and arrested him at about 11pm that night.

ACP Jamaluddin Ibrahim said the jilted man did not hurt the woman physically.

"We arrested the man for abducting the woman and confining her," he said.