Police hunting Clapham attack suspect make arrest as cops issue major update

05 February 2024 , 16:28

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Abdul Ezedi, the suspect in the Clapham alkaline substance attack, at King's Cross underground station (Image: PA)

A man has been arrested on suspicion of assisting an offender as police continue its search for the Clapham chemical attack suspect who has been on the run for five days.

Police have said the manhunt for suspect Abdul Ezedi is working at a "considerable pace" and is still nationwide, without being pinpointed to a certain city. But the force said it is still predominantly focused on Newcastle and south London and is now being staffed at the level of a murder hunt or counterterrorism operation.

Met Police Commander Jon Savell said that a 22-year-old man was arrested for assisting an offender early this morning. He was taken to a police station in south London, where he was interviewed before being released on bail. He said: "If people are harbouring Ezedi they do potentially commit an offence and we take that very seriously and we will take action."

Twelve people were injured in total in the attack involving a corrosive alkaline substance in Clapham, southwest London, on Wednesday 31 January, including a woman, 31, and her two daughters, aged three and eight. The mother will likely lose sight in her right eye, while her daughters were also hurt but have since been discharged from hospital. Police 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. They also confirmed that he is not the father of the children who were injured in the attack.

Abdul Shokoor Ezedi in an undated mugshot (Metropolitan Police/AFP via Gett)

Abdul Ezedi at King's Cross station on January 31 (PA)

Investigators are trawling through hundreds of hours of CCTV and have tracked Ezedi's movements on the London underground via his bank card, with the latest sighting now on Southwark Bridge at 9:50pm on Wednesday. Until now, the latest sighting had been at Tower Hill Underground station, at 9:33pm on the same day. The last confirmed time that he used his bank card was on Wednesday, police said. New footage has shown Ezedi shopping for groceries and smiling in Newcastle the day before he went on his brutal rampage in London.

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Commander Jon Savell, who is leading the manhunt, said: "We have a number of hypotheses about what might have happened. Him having come to some harm is obviously one of them. It is realistic to understand that the fact that no one has seen him recently and he's not been spotted by anybody would mean he has either come to harm and is lying somewhere, and is yet to be found, or someone's looking after him and he's not been outside for some time."

Ezedi seen in a Newcastle shop before the chemical attack

If Ezedi is being looked after by someone in a secret location then the search could continue for weeks, police said. Police raided two properties in east London in the early hours of Friday. One was a block of flats where Ezedi's brother is living. He said he had seen him briefly a week earlier, adding: "If I knew where he was, I'd turn him in." The latest update follows predictions by one former senior police officer that the chemical attack suspect Abdul Ezedi may have taken his own life or be using an ally to stay hidden.

Nick Aldworth, a former national counter-terrorism co-ordinator, 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. 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."

Abdul Ezedi, the suspect in the Clapham alkaline substance attack, at at Tesco in Caledonian Road, north London (PA)

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. The manhunt entered its fifth day on Monday with a £20,000 reward in place for anyone with information leading to his arrest. Ezedi does not have his phone on him - which makes the search more challenging, officers said - it has been recovered and analysed by police.

Tom Pettifor