Posing as rich Saudi ‘with 78 wives’, student pranks Britons

Jeddah: A British student of Pakistani-origin recently pranked people in the Welsh city of Cardiff by going shopping posing as a wealthy Saudi prince, who owns major chain stores and “has 78 wives.”

According to the report published by WalesOnline, Sanaan Akhter is described as “a popular online artist” and making headlines in the UK after he posted a video online of him shopping around Cardiff with his friends, as a fake wealthy Saudi prince Shaikh Sanaan, making ridiculous demands at luxury stores such as Apple and Rolex.”

Flanked by his friends posing as his bodyguards — the 2:14 video starts off with Akhter visiting an Apple store, requesting to buy the whole store and offering free iPhones to everybody in the store. “Free iPhones for everyone,” he can be seen shouting in the video throwing what appears to be currency into the air.

Akhter then proceeds to go hunting for a new Rolex watch, with a budget set at £6 million, and tells a waiter at Starbucks that his father owns the coffee chain.

Dressed in traditional Arabic attire, a resident falls for the prank, believing that Akhter is a real prince and stops him for photographs and a brief conversation — with the prankster’s friend pretending to interpret her questions and comments in Arabic from English.

Sanaan, 20, makes videos for his Facebook page, Man Like Sanaan, as often as possible and said Sacha Baron Cohen, star of Ali G and Borat, has had a big influence on him.

Talking to Wales Online, Akhter said: “I imagined doing something like this in the city center would be funny so I tried to see what we could get done. “It was all legit, and all of the reactions were real.”

Akhter, who will begin a course in optometry at Cardiff University in September, said the team did face difficulties filming the video, and were told to stop in some of the shops.

His parents are Pakistani, but live in Cardiff. He said his performances are driven by his confidence — he doesn’t have a background in acting, but picks up accents easily.

His friend, Zaid Djerdi, said: “He’s always uploading new content and trying to get Cardiff on the map. “We do have talent in this country and we need to shine and stand out.”