As Britain cracks down on weapons, criminals turn to acid attacks

Jabed Hussain said he was really lucky. The delivery driver was one of the latest victims in an alarming surge of acid attacks in Britain.

He was still trembling when he said, “But they didn’t get my face. They didn’t ruin me.”

Attacks by people throwing acid at their victims has tripled in the past three years in Britain, stoking fears that almost anyone can be the victim — from a moped rider to the city banker or politician.

The alarming rise comes amid a clampdown on weapons and fears of a frightening new crime fad involving teenage motorbike thieves using corrosive substances, in part because they are relatively easy to obtain.

Hussain, 30, was riding his three-wheel scooter, stopped at a traffic light in East London earlier this month, when he felt what he thought was water, doused on him by a pair of faceless teenagers in wraparound helmets, mounted on a motorbike beside him.

Read the whole story from The Washington Post.

Featured image courtesy of AP