Toronto Police launch an investigation over the vandalism and mosque break-ins in Scarborough, Canada.
The vandalism at the Baitul Jannah Islamic Centre at Kingston Road and Brimley Road was first discovered when the worshipers arriving at the mosque for morning prayer at around 5:30 a.m. on Sunday.
The suspect(s) vandalized multiple prayer rooms, thrown few Quran copies to the floor, smashed two donation boxes, as well as ransacked the office.
The President of Baitul Jannah Islamic Centre, Atiquar Rahman believes that the mosque was broken into at night through a window and doors that were found opened in the morning.
Rahman added that there is a possibility that it was pre-planned since several surveillance cameras were disconnected and the surveillance system’s digital video recorder was stolen.
According to the officials, the mosque has been targeted multiple times with similar acts of vandalism and theft since 2018.
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Rahman says in one incident in the past, the doors were broken and fourteen donations boxes containing thousands of dollars were stolen.
Mosque officials say the incidents made the Muslim community feeling helpless and frightened, even many of them are no longer willing to donate to the mosque. The community is calling for justice after repeated acts of vandalism.
Officials have submitted surveillance images from the previous incidents to the police and are still waiting for justice to be served.
Shahab Siddique, a member of the board of directors, called these repeated incidents as shocking and devastating for the Muslim community.
Scarborough Southwest MPP Doly Begum, who also prayed at the mosque, asking the government to take more actions to address Islamophobia, and make sure the places of worship are safe for worshippers.
On Sunday afternoon, special constables with Toronto Police Department arrived at the mosque to investigate the incident. Until now, there is no information on potential suspects, and it is still not clear if it’s connected to similar acts of vandalism in the past.
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