Police from the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica are looking for a man who allegedly broke into a house of worship on Hillside Avenue and raided the donation boxes.
The suspect broke into the Arafa Islamic Center, located at 181-14 Hillside Ave., by forcing open a door just after 10 a.m. on Wednesday, March 9, police said.
Once inside, the man removed two of the mosque’s donation boxes, containing approximately $2,000 in cash, before fleeing in an unknown direction, according to the NYPD. There were no injuries reported as a result of the burglary.
The NYPD released a surveillance photo of the suspect who is described as a man with a medium complexion and dark-colored hair. He was last seen wearing a light-colored hooded sweatshirt, a black jacket, black pants and white sneakers.
Anyone with information in regard to the identity of the suspects is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit their tips by logging onto the CrimeStoppers website at nypdcrimestoppers.com, or on Twitter @NYPDTips. All calls and messages are kept confidential.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story referenced a church but it was corrected to say “mosque.”
