A witness, Ismaily Abd Latif, 32, said he was having a drink with his friends outside the restaurant about 1.40am when they heard someone screaming from inside the outlet before seeing the man, clad only in short pants, go on a rampage.

“The rest of the customers and I ran to safety upon seeing the man who was smashing some equipment in the restaurant using a meat cleaver.

“What’s even more shocking was that he pointed the cleaver at customers and restaurant workers who were trying to calm him down,” he told reporters here.

Ismaily said apart from scaring off the patrons, the man had also overturned the restaurant’s tables and chairs.

The 41-year-old restaurant owner, Rashid Khan Ismath Unoon, claimed he suffered losses amounting to about RM15,000 due to the incident.

Kerian district police chief Supt Omar Bakhtiar Yaacob said police apprehended the 33-year-old man from Penang with the help of members of the public.

“The cause of the incident is still being investigated. The suspect was taken to the Parit Buntar Hospital,” he said, adding that police had also seized the knife.

The case is being investigated under Section 506 and 427 of the Penal Code, Omar Bakhtiar added.