Saudi authorities have closed down a shop selling traditional camel urine drinks after discovering the owner had been filling the bottles with his own bodily waste.

Health inspectors swooped on a vendor in the port city of Al Qunfudhah, in south-western Saudi Arabia, and confiscated more than 70 full bottles.

The practice of drinking camel's urine mixed with milk is believed to date back centuries while some insist it has health benefits.

Saudi authorities have closed down a shop selling traditional camel urine drinks after discovering the owner had been filling the bottles with his own bodily waste

But the shopkeeper's business was closed down indefinitely amid claims he had been selling his own urine to unsuspecting customers.

The traditional camel urine drink is believed to have originated from a passage in the Hadith.

The Muslim holy book contains quotes from the prophet Muhammad and it says: 'Some people of Ukl or Uraina tribes came to Medina (in Saudi Arabia) and the climate did not suit them.

'So the Prophet ordered them to go to the herd of (milk) camels and to drink their milk and urine (as medicine).

Health inspectors swooped on a vendor in the port city of Al Qunfudhah, in south-western Saudi Arabia, and confiscated more than 70 full bottles (file picture)

The shopkeeper's business was closed down indefinitely amid claims he had been selling his own urine to unsuspecting customers

'So they went as directed and afterwards they became healthy.'

The World Health Organisation (WHO), however, has warned against drinking it.

In June, amid an outbreak of the MERS (Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus) virus, the group specifically issued a health warning against the practice which they feared would spread the condition.