CAIRO: A number of Saudi nationals suffering from physical and mental problems have fallen victim to an unknown man whom lives in Egypt and claims he can cure them by sending over a ‘Muslim jinn' [genie] to address their health issues. The Egyptian's agent in Saudi Arabia arranges a phone call, understandably, to identify the exact nature of their medical emergency, and too, establish which jinn to dispatch in order to properly address the problem. “People who spoke to the man in that country were asked to transfer a specific sum of money to his account so he can send them a Muslim jinn,” the Saudi Arabic language daily Sabq said in a published report. Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's feared religious police, discovered the scam when they arrested the man's aide in the city of Onaiza. “They asked a member to pose as a patient and contact that agent … the undercover official was then told to phone the man in Egypt … when he did, the man asked him to remit money so he could send him a Muslim jinn to treat him.” The report did not say what the success rate was of the jinn healer. Nor did it give the going rate for a jinn, these days. Sorcery, which this sort of thing is considered, is punishable by death in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—where the preferred method of execution is public beheading by sword, followed by crucifixion.
