"Cookie scare" at mosque, police called
HOOVER, Ala. -- A well-wisher's holiday gift prompted a security scare at a mosque in Alabama.
Ashfaq Taufigue of the Birmingham Islamic Center said Thursday that an office manager found an unsealed cookie tin and an envelope outside the building in suburban Birmingham on Wednesday.
He says mosque officials didn't want to take a chance and called police.
An officer who called a phone number left with the can determined that the cookies were left by a woman simply wanting to show goodwill toward Muslims.
Taufique says he was sad to feel the need to call police but did so as a precaution amid rising anti-Muslim sentiment.
Taufique says he will eat the cookies and invite the woman to dinner.
Police didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.