The 36-year-old said he had destroyed and threw them away.

The big one measured about 3m in length while the small one about 1m.

SCARED

Mr Lian, who said he was a Chinese national, told The New Paper at his store yesterday: 'I was scared after a Chinese paper reported that it was against the law to sell nude paintings. So, I broke the paintings and threw them away.'

When asked why he didn't simply return them to his supplier and seek a refund, Mr Lian insisted that he was 'scared'.

He said he had brought in the paintings from China and claimed to have wanted to sell them for $10 or $20 each.

At his stall, Mr Lian also sells vases, Chinese brushes and other paintings.

Earlier, he had told Shin Min Daily News that he was surprised that there had been complaints about his nude paintings.

He said: 'Such paintings are very common in China. Many people see it as art. They can be found in some washrooms.'

Anyone who sells or exhibits an obscene item in public could be jailed up to three months, or fined, or both.

If the painting had been sold to or seen by a person below the age of 20, the sentence could increase by six months.

COMPLAINTS

Shin Min Daily News had reported on an irate reader's complaint yesterday.

Madam Wu, a 43-year-old housewife, told the paper that the stall had been there for a week. Each time she passed by the stall with her 11-year-old son, she would shield him from the paintings.

She was peeved that the paintings were displayed openly. And she was not alone.

Madam Chitra, 26, a housewife with a 2-year-old son, told The New Paper: 'It was right for the man to remove the painting, but I'm surprised that he did it so quickly.'

Although nude pictures are readily available on the Internet, Madam Zainon Yusoff, a 52-year-old housewife, felt that it's a different issue when they are shown in public openly.

Mr HY Chin, 45, a father of a 21-year-old daughter, said: 'The man should have known better. It's very shameful to display such paintings in public.'

A China painting of a nude woman caused a stir in February when a gallery wanted to display it - in its full frontal glory - in the atrium of the Ministry of Information, Communications and The Arts (Mica) building.

But Mica, the building's landlord, pointed out that the US$60,000 ($92,000) painting while not banned, did not meet Media Development Authority guidelines.

These state that nude or erotic artworks 'should not be displayed in venues which are easily accessible to general audiences, including children and youths'.

The gallery eventually put the painting inside, where it attracted a steady steam of visitors.

Additional reporting by Arul John