Authorities are continuing to pursue a case in which an individual put raw bacon on the door of a Nevada mosque, with the FBI offering a $5,000 reward for information that helps officials locate the suspect, the Associated Press reports.
The FBI confirmed that agents are trying to find the man captured on surveillance video putting slices of raw meat at the entrances of the Masjid-e-Tahweed mosque in Las Vegas. Authorities are calling it a desecration of the center, since the Quran forbids Muslims from eating pork. Pigs, the wire notes, have often been used to offend followers of the religion.
According to the report, both the FBI and the Las Vegas Police Department are treating the case as a possible hate crime. Police spokesman Larry Hadfield said that the bacon was wrapped on door knobs at the mosque but was also found on the grounds and fences.
The incident took place around 3:15 a.m. on Dec. 27, when the suspect, described as a white man wearing a dark-blue hat, jacket and black-framed glasses, approached the worship center. Members discovered the bacon when they arrived for worship later that morning.
As AP notes, this is but the latest attack on a mosque in recent weeks. Just days ago, a Molotov cocktail exploded at the Islamic Center in Tracy, Calif. Earlier this month, a severed pig’s head was found outside the Al-Aqsa Islamic Society in Philadelphia.
Read more at Talking Points Memo.