The Home Ministry will comply with a court decision to return 172 watches seized in a crackdown last year from the Swatch Pride collection.

Speaking to reporters in Putrajaya, its minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail defended the crackdown as being done following procedures and laws, but also conceded to the court’s purview to rule in a challenge filed by the Swiss watchmaker.

“If that is the court decision, by right, the Home Ministry must comply with the decision, or else it would be viewed as...