KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIAN police are looking for 23 people who escaped from a drug rehabilitation centre during a riot there, an officer said on Saturday.

Detainees at the centre in northern Penang state set fire to three buildings and several vehicles on Friday, said a local police officer who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to make public statements.

In Malaysia, people who test positive for drugs are usually convicted of drug use and sent to a rehabilitation center for at least 13 months.

The officer said 30 of the centre's 522 patients ran away, but police recaptured seven. He said no one was injured in the riot.

The New Straits Times daily newspaper reported the riot broke out when some patients were accused of using drugs in the centre. It said 30 detainees tested positive for drugs.

Rehabilitation centre officials could not immediately be reached. -- AP