A Haia spokesman said the commission had received a tip-off that the man was practicing black magic for money.

He added a Haia member was sent undercover to tell the alleged magician that a businessman from Makkah owed him SR75,000, but was refusing to pay him.

The magician allegedly boasted to the undercover agent that he would compel the businessman to pay SR750,000, but he needed something belonging to the ‘victim’”, as well as his mother’s name. The commission said the man asked to be given SR3,000 for an animal to be slaughtered for the ritual and asked for SR250,000 as payment when the businessman paid the Haia agent.

The commission spokesman said the sorcerer’s home in Al-Otaibiyah district was then raided and that talismans were found in his possession, along with photographs of a number of police officers and senior government officials from Makkah.

The Haia said the magician was interrogated by police and then submitted to the Prosecution and Investigation Commission for further questioning before he was referred to the courts.