DETECTIVES have renewed their appeals for witnesses following the abduction and murder of 24-year-old Syed Abbass in East London. Syed died at the Royal London Hospital on September 8, the day after being found in East Ham

By Mike Brooke

DETECTIVES have renewed their appeals for witnesses this-morning following the abduction and murder of 24-year-old Syed Abbass in East London.

Syed died at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel on September 8, the day after being found beaten up in the street in East Ham. A post-mortem later gave cause of death as head injury.

Police were called by a member of the public at 3.30am on September 7 who reported seeing a man being beaten and dragged into a white Audi car at Earlham Grove in Forest Gate. But they found no trace of the car.

Syed was found unconscious two hours later on the pavement at Flanders Road in East Ham, two miles away. His Audi was found at 7.15am burned out at Royston Gardens, off the Eastern Avenue by the Redbridge roundabout.

“Syed Abbass went through what must have been a terrifying ordeal, leaving his family devastated,” said Det Chief Ins Mick Broster.

“This is a complicated inquiry with a number of potential crime scenes. We need to hear from anyone with information about what happened at each of them.”

Syed had been visiting his sister and pulled up outside his house in Forest Gate when he was grabbed and beaten up before being dragged back into his own car and driven off.

Police are appealing for witnesses who were in Earlham Grove, Flanders Road or Royston Gardens in the early hours of September 7, or anyone with information, to contact the incident room on 020-8345 3865, or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800-555111.

Three men were arrested last Thursday in connection with Syed’s death, all in their early 20s. Two remained in custody at the weekend at an East London police station, while the third was bailed to return in mid-January for further questioning.