05/02/24
Police hunting for Clapham chemical attacker arrest man, 22, on suspicion of assisting an offender - as cops reveal victim in alkali attack may lose sight in her eye
Police today arrested a man on suspicion of assisting Clapham chemical attacker Abdul Ezedi - as they confirmed a new sighting of him on the night of the outrage.
Police have been hunting for the fugitive since he allegedly doused a 31-year-old woman and her daughters, aged eight and three, with a corrosive alkaline substance at around 7pm on Wednesday.
Investigators are trawling through hundreds of hours of CCTV and have tracked Ezedi's movements on the Tube network via his bank card, with the latest sighting now on Southwark Bridge at 9.50pm on Wednesday.
The Met arrested a 22-year-old man on Monday morning and he has been released on bail.
They have recovered Ezedi's mobile phone from the car involved in the incident and are analysing it to establish the relationship between him and the victim.
It comes as new CCTV showed the former asylum seeker buying groceries from a shop in Newcastle.
Ezedi was caught on CCTV buying 30 eggs from a Middle Eastern food store near to his home on Tuesday lunchtime. He is seen smiling at staff behind the counter before paying in cash.
The fugitive, who lives near to the store on Byker Road, is thought to have arrived in the UK from Afghanistan on the back of a lorry in 2016. He was found guilty of sexual assault in 2018 but granted asylum after claiming to have converted to Christianity.
Staff at the food store, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Telegraph they were 'horrified' that Ezedi had been connected to the attack because he was known as a 'good Muslim'.
The day after the CCTV was filmed the pizza takeaway chef drove to Clapham, south-west London, where he is believed to have thrown an alkaline substance at a 31-year-old woman and her daughters, eight and three.
Police around the UK have been chasing the 35-year-old Afghan asylum seeker since Wednesday as part of a major manhunt.
The woman, who suffered potentially life-changing injuries, was known to Ezedi and remains in hospital in a critical but stable condition.
The hunt entered its fifth day today with a £20,000 reward in place for anyone with information leading to his arrest.
But Nick Aldworth, a former national counter-terrorism co-ordinator, warned that Ezedi could already be dead.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: 'I think if we've not seen or heard from him in the the last couple of days, which appears to be the case, he's gone to ground, possibly supported by somebody... or it's not unlikely or improbable that he may have taken his own life. There is therefore a body to be found somewhere.'
Mr Aldworth said the Met would be tracking Ezedi's movements through public cameras, which had been a 'very effective' method in previous cases.
The force said the last sighting of Ezedi, who is from Newcastle, was at 9.33pm at Tower Hill Underground station in east London on January 31, shortly after the attack in Clapham.
Asked if the Met Police would now have a precise location for his whereabouts, he said: 'I think they'll have a very good sense of what area he's in.
'What you can't discount of course is that he has been picked up by an ally and moved somewhere else, perhaps in a vehicle.
'The reason they've offered a £20,000 reward is usually because there's a sense that somebody inside the community might well be harbouring this individual.'
On Sunday, police said the suspect used a 'very strong concentrated corrosive substance' in the attack.
Police investigators believe there are people who know Ezedi's whereabouts and have not come forward.
The Met has warned anyone found assisting him will face arrest.
It comes as questions have been raised over how the suspect, who was granted asylum in the UK after two failed attempts, was able to stay in the country despite being convicted of a sex offence.
Police said Ezedi left Newcastle in the early hours of Wednesday and travelled south to London and was in the Tooting area by around 6.30am.
His vehicle was seen again in Croydon, south London, at around 4.30pm and by around 7pm he was in Streatham.
Ezedi allegedly threw the younger child to the ground during the attack at 7.25pm, before attempting to drive away from the scene, crashing into a stationary vehicle and fleeing on foot.
Minutes later he boarded a Tube train at Clapham South Underground station, and by 8pm he was at King's Cross Tube station.
Police say three members of the public who came to the aid of the family during Wednesday's attack, two aged in their 30s and one in her 50s, have all been discharged from hospital with minor burns.
To see full article, see link: Police hunting for Clapham chemical attacker arrest man, 22, on suspicion of assisting an offender - as cops reveal victim in alkali attack may lose sight in her eye | Daily Mail Online
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