Las Vegas – The FBI is offering a $5,000 reward for information that helps them find the person who put raw bacon on the door handles of a Las Vegas mosque.
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The FBI said in a statement Wednesday that agents are trying to find the man seen in a surveillance video putting the meat on the entrances of the Masjid-e-Tawheed mosque. Authorities call it a desecration of the Islamic worship center.
The Quran, the holy book of Islam, prohibits Muslims from eating pork, and pigs have been used to taunt or offend Muslims.
Both the FBI and Las Vegas police say they’re investigating the case as a possible hate crime.
Las Vegas police spokesman Larry Hadfield said the bacon was wrapped on the door knobs, and was also found on the ground and fences.
Officials at the mosque couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
The FBI said the incident happened about 3:15 a.m. Dec. 27. The culprit is described as a white man wearing a dark blue hat, jacket and black-framed glasses. He had black or dark brown hair with long, thin sideburns.
The site west of the Las Vegas Strip wasn’t damaged, and no one was hurt. The mosque was empty at the time, and the case was reported by members who came to worship later that morning.
Several threatening incidents at mosques have been reported in recent weeks. A Molotov cocktail went off at an Islamic center in Tracy, California, days ago, and a severed pig’s head was found outside a Philadelphia worship site earlier this month.
Probably the same guy who partially burned down the mosque in Houston… Or maybe it was his brother who prays regularly at Masjid-e-Tawheed in Las Vegas.
How about a $5000 reward for anyone who informs authorities of a jihadist living in the US?
What a terrible crime! So glad the FBI jumped in right away and offered a reward. Just like they always do when there is a hate crime, NOT! 🙁
Gee, you don’t see this kind of determination on the part of the fbi when synagogues are vandalized! Why the double standard, pray tell?
And how did the mosque goers identify the strip of meat as bacon, pray tell? It’s not as if a pig head was suspended from the turret. A few strip of raw meat of indefinite origin are right away translated into a hate crime bearing such a hefty reward. …weird
Possibly hate, but not a crime? If it was non halal beef or goat would it be a hate crime? Butter?
Pigs offering reward for pig.
First time ever for the FBI to offer a reward.
Maybe they should offer $5,000 for information about the next Muslim terrorist attack instead.