A man has been arrested following yet another suspected acid attack in London, said to have left its victims with “life-changing” injuries.
23-year-old Rahad Hussain, of no fixed abode, was arrested on two counts of wounding with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm and possession of an offensive weapon, near the Singh Supermarket on Roman Road, Bethnal Green.
The two male victims are said to have come running into the store with their skin “peeling off”, telling a shopkeeper: “We have got acid on us, we have got acid on us!”
“They were pouring the water over themselves in the shop, and it had got into their clothes. One of them was pouring it down his trousers,” the shopkeeper recalled.
A police constable who was at the scene told journalists that “the colour of their faces had changed” where the skin had come into contact with the substance, and showed journalists a partially melted jacket which one of them had been wearing.
The attack comes just weeks after a teen was detained following a moped crime spree in which five separate acid attacks were launched in East London and Islington.
Breitbart London reported in May 2017 that multicultural London is now the world’s acid attack capital, with Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI) citing figures showing attacks up 74 per cent between 2015 and 2016, from 261 to 454.
ASTI director Jaf Shah said this means Britain has “the highest number of acid attacks per head” in the world — although this may be due to superior crime recording.
Acid attacks in the UK were once rare and shocking crimes able to command sustained headline coverage, with Gordon Modiak becoming a household name as “the acid monster” following an attack on his former partner in 1991.
Hundreds have been targeted in the first six months of 2017 alone, with 12 people including two Australian sisters suffering burns and in some cases losing their vision after an attack in a Hackney nightclub at Easter.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.