Police say a man stole from a Long Island mosque's charity donations box on Christmas and New Year's Day.Huzaifa Shafeeq was arraigned on burglary charges Monday, when bail was set at $1,500. There was no immediate response to a message left with the Legal Aid Society, which represented him.Nassau County police say the 22-year-old got in through a window at the Islamic Center of the Five Towns, in Hewlett, and took cash from a charity box on the two Sunday holidays.Islamic Center board member Iqbal Rasheed says the amount taken wasn't large. He says the center's leaders felt the thief needed help, so they called police.He says he doesn't know Shafeeq personally. </s> A man is under arrest on Long Island after police say he broke into an Islamic center and stole money out of the charity box.According to police, Huzaifa Shafeeq, 22, of Valley Stream entered Five Towns Islamic Center in Hewlett through a window on Dec. 25th and again on Jan. 1st and removed an undisclosed amount of cash.He was arrested at his home without incident.Shafeeq is charged with third-degree burglary. </s> HEWLETT, Long Island (WABC) -- A man is under arrest on Long Island after police say he broke into an Islamic center and stole money out of the charity box.According to police, Huzaifa Shafeeq, 22, of Valley Stream entered Five Towns Islamic Center in Hewlett through a window on Dec. 25th and again on Jan. 1st and removed an undisclosed amount of cash.He was arrested at his home without incident.Shafeeq is charged with third-degree burglary.Islamic Center board member Iqbal Rasheed says the amount taken wasn't large. He says the center's leaders felt the thief needed help, so they called police.He says he doesn't know Shafeeq personally. </s> A Valley Stream man has been arrested and charged with burglarizing the Five Towns Islamic Center in Hewlett on Christmas Day and again on New Year’s Day, police said.

Huzaifa Shafeeq, 22, was awaiting arraignment Monday on two counts of burglary in the third degree, Nassau County police said.

He was arrested at his home on Fairfax Street at 6:18 p.m. Sunday and charged with entering the Islamic Center through a window and taking an undisclosed amount of cash from a charity box on both days, police said. </s> A Queens man has been arrested after authorities say he plotted to bomb Manhattan’s Times Square Ashiqul Alam was taken into custody Thursday by the Joint Terrorism Task Force , which includes both the NYPD and FBI The 22-year-old man from Queens allegedly bought guns and wanted to use a suicide vest and grenades to attack Times Square to kill police officers and civilians.Authorities say Alam bought two guns with their serial numbers removed from undercover agents. </s> SEATTLE (AP) — A man arrested after a suspicious fire severely damaged a Washington state mosque early Saturday had previously caused a ruckus when he interrupted a prayer service there last summer, a mosque official said.

The fire was reported at about 2:45 a.m. Saturday at the Islamic Center of the Eastside in Bellevue. Authorities said that as firefighters doused the flames, police found a 37-year-old man near the building and arrested him for investigation of arson and malicious mischief.

The fire destroyed the back of the building, but the extent of the damage was not yet clear, mosque board member Tanvir Rahman said in a phone interview. He described the suspect as mentally disturbed — which is how the suspect described himself in at least one of his many prior encounters with the police, court records show.

“He has been there before,” Rahman said. “He came in during a prayer service a few months back and shouted some profanities. Some of the people got him out and the police took him.”

According to a police report on that incident filed in King County District Court, the suspect entered the mosque on the evening of July 28, yelling wildly and waving his arms. When a worshipper asked how he could help the man, the suspect cocked his fist and threatened him, the officer wrote.

Others grabbed him and pushed him outside, and he struck one worshipper, who declined to have the police pursue assault charges, the officer wrote. The suspect, who was described in the report as homeless, was cited for disorderly conduct.

On another occasion, the imam bought him a sandwich at a Subway restaurant, Rahman said.

The suspect, who has not been charged in the mosque fire, has been arrested more than 50 times, including many times for property damage, King County court records show.

Last June, he was arrested after smashing a window at the Nike Town store in downtown Seattle with a rock. When a Seattle police officer asked him why he did it, he responded that he was schizophrenic and wanted to go to jail, the officer noted in an incident report.

“He told me the many people trying to kill him and accuse him of crimes made him believe he should commit the crimes to go to jail,” the officer wrote.

Police spokesman Seth Tyler says investigators believe the man is the sole suspect.

A public defender who represented the man in the Nike Town vandalism did not immediately return an email Saturday. The Associated Press is withholding the man’s name because he has not been charged.

The mosque was unoccupied at the time and no injuries were reported.

There have been repeated incidents of threats and vandalism at the Bellevue mosque and others in recent months. A man was charged this week with a hate crime for threatening people there on Jan. 6, and a granite sign outside the Muslim Association of Puget Sound in neighboring Redmond was damaged twice.

This story has been corrected to show that while the suspect had previously been to the mosque, he was not known to have worshipped there. </s> Three unidentified men waited until the New Year's Eve ball dropped to pull off a multi-million dollar diamond jewelry heist in Midtown, Manhattan.

The heist took place inside KGK Holdings jewelry wholesaler at 70 W. 36th St., in what appears to be an inside job, since the thieves didn't have to crack the safes when they got inside.

'The safes were opened. They didn't even have to pry', police told the New York Daily News.

thousands of police were patrolling Times Square just a few blocks away.

'They laid in wait until the ball dropped', police told the New York Post.

The trio allegedly stole $6 million worth of diamond jewelry and are still at large.

In the surveillance video, a bearded white male wearing a hoodie and a backpack can be seen banging a hammer for several seconds. At one point, he looks straight into the camera.

His accomplice, wearing a hoodie and face mask, makes numerous attempts to break the surveillance camera with a hammer.

They used a hammer and crow bar to gain entry into the building through the freight entrance to the sixth floor at about 10pm, as revelers gathered at Times Square.

Once they were inside, the trio snuck into the sixth-floor offices of Gregg Ruth, a commercial jewelry store owned by KGK Holdings known for its rare yellow and pink diamonds, and allegedly grabbed the gems from two safes.

Police said one of the safes wasn't locked.

A security guard posted in front of the business said the company had no security officers protecting the premises before the robbery.

The wholesaler reported the theft at 3pm on Sunday.

Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD's Crime Stoppers hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS. </s> [What you need to know to start the day: Get New York Today in your inbox.]

Around the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks last year, Ashiqul Alam voiced his admiration for their mastermind, Osama bin Laden, and said he wanted to carry on Bin Laden’s legacy of violent extremism, court documents said.

“He did what he is supposed to do,” Mr. Alam, 22, said, according to a criminal complaint. “Now it’s up to us.”

That sentiment, expressed to an undercover law enforcement agent, kicked off a series of conversations about a potential terrorist attack in New York City that ultimately led to Mr. Alam’s arrest on Thursday, the authorities said.

Mr. Alam, a green-card holder from Bangladesh who lives in Queens, was taken into custody after trying to buy two Glock pistols with defaced serial numbers from an undercover officer, officials said. </s> A Washington man was arrested on Saturday on charges of setting fire to an Islamic center in Bellevue, Washington, authorities said.

Isaac Wayne Wilson, 37, was arrested after he was discovered in a parking lot near the Islamic Center of Eastside, where a fire broke out in the middle of the night.

Bellevue Police Chief Steve Mylett said Wilson was arrested on suspicion of second degree arson, and on an outstanding warrant for felony first degree malicious mischief in Seattle.

Police and fire agencies received several calls alerting them to a fire at the center around 2:45 a.m. Firefighters found heavy fire on the first and second floors, Fire Chief Mark Risen said, adding that firefighters quickly prevented the fire from spreading to other parts of the building.

There were no injuries, Risen said.

Imam Faizel of the Islamic Center of Eastside said he was shocked by the incident.

“As a community, yes we are heartbroken, we are sad that we have lost our place of worship. I have been the imam there for 16 years and never have we ever experienced anything like this,” he told a news conference.

The motive remains unknown, Mylett said, and the incident is under investigation.

The mosque solicited donations on its web site to rebuild, saying “Together we can build something better, bigger, and beautiful.”
Huzaifa Shafeeq was arraigned on burglary charges after police say the stole from a Long Island mosque charity box on Christmas and New Years Day. Islamic Center board member said the amount taken wasn't large, but called police as the thief needed help.