Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian police have detained a man who allegedly forced his three Indonesian maids to have sex with him before they could get their monthly wages, a news report said Wednesday.

The three alleged victims fled their employer's home early Tuesday and sought help from police, saying their 400 ringgit (108 dollars) monthly salaries were withheld if they did not have sex with the suspect.

The women, aged between 23 and 26, also claimed that they were beaten, punched and choked until they gave in, the Star daily said.

"I have been molested, threatened with a knife, and beaten until my face, eyes and body are swollen," a 26-year-old woman was quoted as saying.

"I came to Malaysia to earn money for my husband and child in Surabaya. Now I just want to go home. I can't take it any more," she told reporters at the police station in the northern stateo of Perak.

The 43-year-old suspect, who turned himself in Tuesday night, had been remanded for four days to assist investigations, district deputy police chief Mak Pak Chuai said.

The three women claimed they had endured the abuse during two years of working for the suspect, the report said.

Malaysia is home to more than 600,000 foreign maids, many of whom come from Indonesia and the Philippines.(dpa)