KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian woman claims she was apprehended and placed in lock-up by authorities in an airport in China after she was carrying a friend's bag that contained pills.

Lisa Lim, 45, said she was on her way back to Malaysia after holidaying in Kunming, China on Jan 7.

According to Lim, her friend, one "Datin Ng" asked her to hold on to her bag, claiming that she had other luggage to look after.

Lim agreed to but she was later stopped by Chinese immigration officers at the checkpoint.

She said the bag that she was holding on to contained a large amount of Chinese medicine,in the from of compressed pills.

However, despite drug-sniffing dogs detecting no signs of narcotics, the Chinese authorities still detained her.

Meanwhile, Lim's friends boarded their flight back to Malaysia.

"I was told that I would be released in three days but I was kept in lock-up for 30 days," she alleged during a press conference on Tuesday (Feb 20) at Wisma MCA.

She was released from custody on Feb 7 and returned home a day later (Feb 8).

Lim said she was unable to contact her family and friends the entire time.

On her return, Lim confronted Ng over the bag but was brushed off.

"Even my friends who were with me on the trip told me to forget about the incident," she added.

MCA public services and complaints department head Datuk Seri Michael Chong said that the ordeal had damaged Lim's reputation and caused great stress to her and her family.

"She is lucky she was released and no narcotics were found.

"However it is greatly irresponsible for Ng to not care or bother about what happened," he said.

Department legal advisor James Ee said that Chinese law allows a person to be held for around 37 days.

"And they can prevent you from using a phone if they feel it would jeopardise their investigations," he said, adding that he had advised Lim on any potential lawsuit against Ng.