The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the Hai'a) arrested recently an Arab national accused of conducting acts of magic after he was observed peddling his services at local markets in the Al-Majma'a area east of Buraidah. The ambulant trader was first spied by a Hai'a official purportedly selling traditional medicaments, but it was observed that despite spending lengthy periods of time engaged in conversation with customers he never actually made any sales. Suspicions aroused, the Hai'a sent in an officer posing as a potential client requesting an “act of magic to put an end to a personal problem”, and the market trader told him to bring a “cockerel, two black thobes and 15,000 riyals”, all of which he claimed were necessary to “placate the jinn”. The undercover operation continued until the suspect began preparing the act in question, whereupon Hai'a officials moved into make the arrest.
