A major clean up is underway in Saudi Arabia along the Red Sea coast. The Saudi tourist authority hopes to develop land and attract tourists to the area. Divers employed to sift rubbish out of the Red Sea and clean up beaches have discovered illegal contraband in the Tabuk area. They have turned the evidence over to the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
Almost 100 divers took part in the operation, recovering more than four tons of waste that included items with connections to sorcery and black magic which is strictly prohibited in the Kingdom. The
Gulf News reported that an official from the religious police said “These materials were thrown into the sea after being used for at least 22 sorcery acts."
According to
Emirates 247 “The anti-magic committee examined the items and found that some of them are still active and that they have been dumped there for magic work.”
Fortunately the talismans and other banned items were
“neutralized and destroyed by the committee.”
Saudi authorities have noted a growing trend in black magic which they blame on migrant foreign workers. Shaikh Abdullah Al Jarba, director of the department of cases at the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice told the
Gulf News that 585 cases of sorcery and black magic had been uncovered. He said
“Some Indonesian maids resort to black magic with the evil intention of harming their employers.”
Whilst in many countries the evidence of sorcery would be dismissed as a scam, or harmless trickery, it is taken extremely seriously in the Kingdom. Those found guilty of connections to sorcery can face prison terms. In one incident last month a Sudanese man was
beheaded by the authorities after he was found guilty of casting a spell.
