South Yorkshire Police investigating THREE reports of people receiving vile 'punish a Muslim' letters

The police are working with the North East Counter Terrorism Unit to investigate the three 'punish a Muslim' hate letters sent to addresses in South Yorkshire..
A picture of the letter, as posted by @Rowaida_Abdel on TwitterA picture of the letter, as posted by @Rowaida_Abdel on Twitter
A picture of the letter, as posted by @Rowaida_Abdel on Twitter

The vile letter, which has been sent to addresses in South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and across the UK, encourages people to take part in a 'punish a Muslim' points-scoring game.

A national operation– co-ordinated by Counter Terrorism Policing North East (CTPNE) has been launched after a malicious letter containing messages of hate crime was reported to police by a number of people on Friday, March 9 and over the weekend.

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South Yorkshire Police’s Assistant Chief Constable, Tim Forber, wanted to reassure communities after three letters were received in South Yorkshire, all of which are being investigated with information being forwarded to the CTPNE unit.

ACC Tim Forber said: “These communications are extremely distressing and we appreciate that members of our communities will be very concerned.

“I can assure you that these documents are being taken extremely seriously and a thorough investigation into the circumstances is underway.

“I would like to reassure the people of South Yorkshire that public and community safety remains our utmost priority and as always, we are doing everything we can to ensure the safety of everyone.

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“We’d always encourage anyone who is made to feel vulnerable to report this to police and it is really important that we are made aware of all letters received.

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Threatening 'punish a Muslim' letter believed to have been posted in Sheffield

“If you or someone you know, has received such a letter, please contact 101 and quote incident number 420 of March 11, 2018.

“Hate crime in any form will not be tolerated and we will work with our communities and alongside our colleagues in the counter terrorism unit to ensure that those spreading fear and hatred will be brought to justice.”

In addition to letters being received in the region, it is suggested that at least one of the hateful letters was sent from Sheffield.

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One of the six people in West Yorkshire to receive the letter, Councillor Riaz Ahmed, a Liberal Democrat councillor in Bradford, told The Mirror: "It was not addressed to anyone, just the address and postcode as if it was sent out randomly. It has a second class stamp on the plain white envelope and the frank mark is Sheffield. It was posted yesterday.

"It seems strange that anyone would send something like this to an address in a predominantly Muslim area. When I opened it and saw the content I was horrified."

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