KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIAN police have arrested a beauty parlor owner and a farmer suspected of distributing a sex video showing a former minister committing adultery, news reports said on Saturday.

Police seized a DVD and three VCDs showing former Health Minister Chua Soi Lek engaging in sex acts and a laptop after detaining a 29-year-old woman at her beauty parlor in southern Johor state, the New Straits Times said.

'We are investigating how the woman obtained the recordings and who is behind it,' state police chief Hussin Ismail was quoted as saying.

Police are still investigating who made the sex video and how hidden cameras were installed in Chua's suite in a luxury hotel in Johor, he said.

The Star newspaper said a 50-year-old farmer has also been detained in Johor in connection with distributing the video.

Hussin and Johor police officials couldn't be reached immediately for details.

The secretly filmed one-hour video, which was circulated anonymously last week, showed Chua, a married man with three children, having sex with a woman in a hotel room.

Chua, 61, resigned on Wednesday after admitting he was the man in the video.

The incident poses a major embarrassment for Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is already facing a string of administrative and political headaches in an election year.

The government is preparing Malaysians for a steep hike in fuel prices amid growing public disillusionment with slow economic progress and corruption allegations.

Mr Abdullah is also trying to placate disgruntled minority Indians who are demanding racial equality, better job opportunities and religious freedom.

Tens of thousands of Indians held a rare street protest in November.