Harun Nasrullah

Six teenagers have been arrested for raiding an a Muslim academy in Newcastle on March 25, leaving windows smashed and copies of the Qur’an ripped up.

Northumbria Police received a report at 9 pm that a group of youngsters had broken into the Bahr Academy on Bennell Lane. When they arrived at the scene discovered “significant damage” had been caused.

It is the second time the same Islamic centre has been attacked already this year.
In January, vandals broke in and sprayed racist graffiti on the walls of the building, but the offenders were never identified.

Northumbria Police Neighbour Inspector Alan Davidson confirmed police are treating the incident as a “hate crime.”

In a statement to The Muslim News a Northumbria Police spokesman said: “This is a very distressing incident for members of the Bahr Academy, particularly as it is the second break-in this year. Although there is not the same racist graffiti as we saw in the first incident, we are treating this as a hate crime.”