CARACAS (AFP) - A Venezuelan couple has been fined US$1,300 (S$1,600) for getting a bit too frisky inside their automobile, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

The case has rankled Venezuelans, inhabitants of one of the world's most crime-ridden countries, who grouse that the time and effort spent prosecuting the pair might have been put to better use catching thieves and robbers.

The case stems from a romantic interlude in November of last year, when the couple steamed up the windows of their Chevy Malibu at a park in north-western Zulia state, authorities said.

According to a statement, the lovers were charged by observent police with engaging in "indecent acts". Municipal prosecutor Daniel Alvarado took the case to court.

The couple was ordered to pay a fine of 8,400 bolivars (S$1,600) - equivalent to about three months' pay for a minimum wage worker in Venezuela.