The Metropolitan Police are concerned that Abdul Ezedi could have links to criminal gangs.
Ezedi, 35, allegedly attacked a mum and her two kids with a corrosive alkaline liquid on Wednesday in Clapham, South London.
A national manhunt was launched, with investigators putting up a £20,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Ezedi.
He allegedly tried to run a woman over before twice slamming her three-year-old daughter on the ground "like a rag doll", reports The Sun.
An appeal has been launched to find Abdul Ezedi
PA
The Sunday Times reports that officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA), nicknamed "Britain's FBI" are focusing on whether he may be receiving help from an organised crime group to evade capture.
The last confirmed sighting of Ezedi was when he left Tower Hill Underground station at 9.33pm on Wednesday. Ezedi had changed trains at Victoria, where he arrived on the Victoria Line at 9.10pm.
Officers are urging people not to approach him. The search for Ezedi, an asylum seeker thought to have arrived in the UK in 2016 from Afghanistan on the back of a lorry is entering its sixth day.
In 2018, he was convicted at Newcastle Crown Court of sexual assault and indecent exposure and was given a 45-week suspended prison sentence and placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years.
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WATCH: Police search a property in Newcastle in connection with Abdul Ezedi
The Home Office twice rejected his asylum application. On his third attempt, an appeal to an immigration tribunal, he reportedly claimed that he had converted to Christianity. A priest vouched for his newfound faith saying that he was "wholly committed" and he was granted asylum.
According to a close relative of the suspect quoted by Sky News, Ezedi had said he was in a relationship with the 31-year-old woman.
The victim and her daughters were confirmed to be residents of the Clapham South Belvedere Hotel, which other guests say is used as emergency accommodation.
Twelve people were taken to hospital, including five police officers. Many of them were treated for burns from the alkaline substance.
After raids on two addresses in east London and three in Newcastle, the police located "two empty containers with corrosive warnings on the label."
Ezedi's brother Hassan has urged the chemical attack suspect to give himself up and come forward.
Anyone with information about Abdul Ezedi is asked to call 020 7175 2784 or for an immediate sighting dial 999.
Britain now has the highest number of recorded chemical attacks in the world, mostly on women, with a total of 710 in 2022 compared with 421 in 2021.
