Brother of chemical attack suspect admits ‘if I knew where he was, I’d turn him in’

The brother of the main suspect in a horror chemical attack in London has said ‘If I knew where he was, I’d turn him in for what he did.’

Abdul Shokoor Ezedi, 35, is suspected of throwing a corrosive liquid at a woman and her daughters, aged eight and three, on Wednesday (January 31). Six others, including police officers, were also injured in the alleged assault. The woman remains ‘very poorly’ in hospital, police said.

Ezedi has been at large since the incident and has “significant injuries to the right side of his face.”

His brother Hassan Ezedi, 21, has expressed doubt about whether the 35-year-old is even alive, saying: “If I knew where he was, I’d turn him in for what he did.

“I don’t know if he’s alive or where he is now. I saw him briefly last week.

“He wasn’t living with me. He was in Newcastle,” the younger sibling told The Sun.

At 2am today (February 2) police raided the YMCA-run hostel in Leyton, East London, where Hassan lives. It was one of five raids across the capital and Newcastle to find the suspect.

A resident there, Kami Bowden, 20, said: “It was scary because the police had Tasers in their hands.

“They were shouting quite loudly. We could hear them smacking on my door.

“Quite frankly I was crapping myself. They told me to walk backwards out of the room with my hands on my head.

“They took us to the other side of the road and said it wasn’t safe to be in the premises.”

Met commander Jon Savell said three of the overnight raids were in Newcastle, and two were in the capital.

“Two empty containers with corrosive warnings on the label were found at an address in Newcastle,” he added.

“Forensic tests are currently ongoing to see if the containers held the substance used in the attack in Clapham.”

The Sun reported that the woman who was attacked had been living with her children in a Clapham hotel for the past two weeks, perhaps hiding from Ezedi who had travelled from Newcastle before the incident.

Ezedi was last seen on CCTV at King’s Cross station, central London, less than two hours after the attack. Police said he boarded a southbound Victoria Line Tube before vanishing.