Seventeen Filipina workers in Saudi Arabia have been detained after they took part in a Halloween party, the Philippines foreign ministry says, BBC reported.

The women were taken into custody on Friday by intelligence officers who raided a compound in Riyadh, after neighbours complained about the noise.

It is not yet clear what charges they are facing.

But the foreign ministry noted that Saudi laws prohibit unattached men and women being seen together in public.

The Philippine ambassador in Riyadh, Adnan Alonto, told the ministry that initial information indicated the organisers of the party had been charged with holding an event without a permit and for disturbing the neighbourhood.

The Philippine Star newspaper cited a Facebook post by a man called Humoud Al Fajrawi as saying that some of the partygoers had not known that the event was Halloween-themed.