Eastwood mosque receives bomb threat

The writer posted a note to the Jamia Masjid Abu Bakr on Russel Street, Eastwood on August 1.

It reads: “Next time it will be a bomb, you Muslim scum,” written in capital letters with a red ballpoint pen.

The sender signed off with Nazi numerals 14, code for the 14-word creed of white supremacists and 88, representing HH — short for Heil Hitler.

The incident was documented online by Islamophobia watchdog Tell MAMA.

A spokesman for the group said: “The Rotherham grooming scandal has been seized on by extremist and far-right groups to create racial and religiously-based divisions which assists no-one but themselves.

“The threat against a mosque raises anti-Muslim hatred to another level, with the neo-Nazi terminology.

“We will be passing on this material to the police and urge members of the public in Rotherham to remain vigilant.”

Cllr Saghir Alam, who represents Boston Castle ward, is also chairman of the Rotherham Council of Mosques.

He said: “The Council of Mosques condemns this incident of terror, targeting a place of worship and causing fear in the community.

“It’s very distressing for the people of Eastwood but police are investigating.”

He added: “I urge all mosques in Rotherham to be vigilant and report any hate crime or targeted incidents to South Yorkshire Police.

“Hopefully we will not let this behaviour divide our communities.”

Officers were notified on August 6 of the delivery, a police spokeswoman said.

She added: “Police were alerted to a report of malicious communication threatening damage, which was received on Monday, August 1 in the Eastwood area of Rotherham.

“An investigation is underway with ongoing enquiries to identify the author, and officers would urge anyone who has information or receives any communication of this nature to immediately report it to police.”