"I was shocked when I entered the mosque for the morning prayer," Kenan Bajric, the imam of the mosque in Han Ploca village, told the Dnevni Avaz newspaper.

"The entrance doors were wide open, the charity box broken and empty, and on the floor I found a large piece of paper saying 'May dear Allah forgive me for stealing this money'," he said.

The papers published a copy of the letter.

The imam could not say how much money was taken, saying the box had not been checked for several weeks.