MALACCA, MALAYSIA: A German couple was shocked to find RM70,000 (S$29,500) of their valuables in cash and jewellery missing from their room in a five star hotel here on Tuesday.

Frank Antmann, 44, a field manager for a multinational company, was here with his wife on business when he said he lost cash in several currencies, a watch and jewellery.

According to Antmann, the valuables were in two bags in the hotel room, but he had been confident of their safety, as it is a five-star hotel.

But he noticed something amiss while at a power plant where he had planned on distributing RM3,000 in cash allowance to field workers there.

"I was at the job site on Tuesday and was about to give the workers the money when I realised it was not in my bag. That's when I decided to go back to the hotel.

"When I got there, my wife told me everything valuable we had was no longer in our room."

Antmann claimed he immediately informed the hotel management about the loss.

He said the management checked the record of room entries for the day using the electronic key card, but found nothing unusual.

"(But) there is another door to the room that lets you enter manually using a key. Whoever did it, could have used that door," Antmann said.

"To my surprise, the floor on which our room is located does not have a CCTV. I am shocked that a five star hotel is so lax in security," he said.

Furthermore, Antmann said he learned from authorities that this wasn't the first time a guest in the hotel had been robbed.

"We chose to stay in a five- star hotel for the safety and security factor, but we still became victims. We have stayed in so many hotels before, but this is the first time we have experienced this," he said.

Malacca police chief Senior Assistant Commissioner I Mazlan Mansor confirmed the incident.

"We will conduct our investigations," he said.