Donation money stolen from Mayo mosque

A MUSLIM community in the west of Ireland has been outraged by the theft of a donation box containing a substantial sum of money from their mosque.

Detectives are being hampered in their investigation by the fact that the raiders also stole the hard drive from the mosque's CCTV system before entering the centre which is situated in Ballyhaunis.

When built by Pakistani meat baron Sher Rafique in 1987, it was the first purpose mosque to be constructed in Ireland.

It is understood that the mosque was open at the time of the overnight break-in on Thursday night/Friday morning last. This is in keeping with Muslim tradition.

Gardai at Claremorris (094-71222) are investigating.