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Detectives are trying to find out how a pig’s head which was placed outside an Islamic Cultural Centre was obtained.

Police discovered the head of the animal after a member of the public reported two men acting suspiciously outside the building shortly before midnight on Wednesday (October 23).

Two men have now been arrested on suspicion of a racially aggravated public order offence.

A 41-year-old and 33-year-old man, who are both from Ellesmere Port, have been released on police bail pending further enquiries.

Detectives have confirmed they are now visiting local businesses to try and find out where the pig’s head came from.

Chief Inspector Giles Orton, who leads the Ellesmere Port and Neston Policing Team, said: “We take incidents of this nature extremely seriously and will not tolerate hate crime within the community.

“As part of our ongoing investigation, our officers are conducting enquiries with local businesses to discover where the pig’s head might have come from.

“We are also appealing to anyone from the local community who may know how the pig’s head was obtained to please contact us.”

Last week police vowed to put an end to all racist incidents and hate crimes in Ellesmere Port following the latest attack on the centre, which is currently under construction after being granted planning permission by Cheshire West and Chester Council earlier this month amidst angry scenes.

The vow comes as a facebook group containing racist content, including images of pigs and anti Islamic messages, was removed from the social media site.

The ‘community’ page, named ‘Ban Ellesmere Port Mosque’, was set up on September 12 by an unnamed individual, and says it aims to “stop Muslims taking over Ellesmere Port” and “keeping Britain British”.

The page, which had reached almost 600 likes mysteriously vanished last week.

This is not the first time the centre, which will be used as a place of worship and to hold religious festival, has been subject to hate attacks.

Last month a man was given a restraining order, forcing him to stay away from the former Ellesmere Port Unemployment and Culture Centre, after hanging racist bunting decorated with swastikas and KKK symbols outside the building.

Anyone who has any information is urged to contact Cheshire Police on 101, or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.