Riyadh, Oct 10 (Emirates 24 x 7): Saudi Arabia’s religious police detained Colombian footballer Juan Pablo Pino while he was shopping at a mall with his wife because he wore a shirt without sleeves, a newspaper in the conservative Gulf Kingdom said on Monday.

The 24-year-old footballer, who currently plays for the Saudi Al-Nasr club, was at the mall in the capital Riyadh with his pregnant wife when members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice seized him.

“They then put him and his wife in their car and waited until officials from Al-Nasr club came and sorted it out…Pino and his wife were handed to the club officials after a brief detention,” Sharq Arabic language paper said.

“Following the incident on Friday, Pino’s wife is living in a state of anxiety and is demanding that she and her husband leave Saudi Arabia…Al Nasr club has asked its Argentine coach Gustavo Costas and his wife to try and persuade Pino’s wife to change her mind but their attempts have been futile.”

The paper said Pino wore a sleeveless T-shirt while his wife had an Arabian gown on when they were detained by members of the Commission, the most feared and influential law enforcement body in Saudi Arabia.