KUALA LUMPUR, March 13 — “Bomohs” or witch doctors who perform rituals that go against Islamic teachings to search for the missing flight MH370 will be arrested on sight, the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) said today.

The religious authority was quoted in The Star Online today as saying that seven officers from the department have been stationed at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) since 10.30am today, following two incidents of bomohs performing rituals over the past two days.

“Anything that is against shariah principles and fatwa will be asked to disperse and if they refused, we will arrest them,” Sepang district enforcement chief Zaifullah Jaafar Shidek was quoted as saying by the news portal.

“This is to avoid people from becoming syirik (deviant),” he added.

Zaifullah noted that authorities have the power to disperse any ritual or rite that goes against shariah principles or fatwas.

Any who refuse to heed orders to disperse will be arrested under Section 7 of the Shariah Criminal Offences Enactment (Selangor) 1995 or practising a false doctrine.

Videos of two separate incidents of bomohs conducting rituals to pray for the safe return of the missing Boeing 777-200 went viral on social media, drawing scorn and ridicule from local netizens who questioned the wisdom in allowing the so-called witch doctors to perform their rituals.

Even the international press picked up on the incidents, with the International Business Times citing comments by users of Chinese social media service Weibo who slammed Malaysia’s administration for allegedly hiring the bomohs instead of using high technology in search efforts such as what is being done by Vietnam and China.

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin yesterday spoke up in defence of Putrajaya, saying that the government had nothing to do with the two bomoh incidents.

“Sometimes we just need to repeat things again and again. NO, the Msian govt did not hire witchdoctors to help find #MH370,” he tweeted.

The search continues for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane six days after it dropped out from the radar in the pre-dawn hours on Saturday.

The plane, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, went missing at around 1.40am while en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, It was scheduled to land in Beijing at 6.30am.

An international search and rescue effort involving over 80 naval vessels and aircraft from at least 10 countries is currently scouring the waters surrounding the point where the plane lost contact, and also the waters in the Malacca Straits and off Vietnam.