An international manhunt is under way for the chief suspect in the fatal stabbing of innocent student Qayyum Balogun after his alleged attacker fled Dublin to Belfast before getting a ferry to Scotland.

Gardaí and their colleagues in the PSNI along with Scottish police are working together to track down and detain the suspect in the 21-year-old’s death, which happened in the early hours of Monday morning.

The suspect, who was already on bail for a serious knife attack last year, has also been pictured running through Grafton Street holding what appears to be a six-inch blade.

While he has wiped his social media presence, he had posted a video following the stabbing where he appeared to mock his victim, stating ‘rest in p***’.

The suspect is from the south of the country. The video has since been removed but gardaí have retained it as part of their investigation.

Sources are now confident that the man left Dublin and headed to the North where he took a ferry to Scotland. He is now hiding out at an undisclosed location, sources said.

Gardaí have not established a solid motive for the attack and continue to piece together the evidence. Several knives have been discovered in the area following searches and have been sent to forensic teams for fingerprint and DNA analysis.

A number of other people of interest are still being tracked down. Our source added: ‘CCTV from the attack itself continues to be gathered and gardaí believe they have a positive ID on the man holding the blade from the photos being shared on social media.

‘Gardaí are now sharing intelligence with various police forces – across the border as well as in Great Britain. They will look at all his known associates in the UK. They are to be spoken to. Gardaí know this young guy very well. He’s known for carrying a knife and has been suspected of involvement in several violent incidents in Ireland.

‘Gardaí investigating this crime know that multiple videos and screenshots of the attack are circulating. So too are pictures of the suspect from when he was 17 years old along with other personal details about him.’

Gardaí had previously arrested two people in connection with the murder of computer science student Qayyam, including a woman known to the main suspect.

She was released without charge on Wednesday evening. Meanwhile, a man in his 20s, who was arrested on Wednesday, was charged last night with assault causing harm. He is due in court this morning.

Mr Balogun, 21, whose parents are Nigerian but had been living in Dundalk, Co. Louth, since he was a child, died after he was stabbed on Dublin’s Clarendon Street just before 3am on Monday morning.

The student, who’d been attending a rap concert at a club above Bewley’s café on Grafton Street, was stabbed in the arm but managed to escape before his attackers caught up with him on Clarendon Street and continued their attack.

An innocent woman was also knifed but did not suffer serious injuries, gardaí said. Qayyam’s mother Teslimot Balogun said she received a phone call in the middle of the night to tell her that her son had been stabbed and was at St James’s Hospital.

‘He died instantly. I found myself [looking at his] dead body. He’s a very quiet guy, he goes on his own, he doesn’t cause trouble. He’s a very funny guy. He’s always friendly. He’s a good boy, a very quiet, easygoing boy. He doesn’t cause trouble.’

Mr Balogun’s stepmother, Loveth Patrick, rubbished the idea that he was in a gang and said that he worked in the local Burger King as he completed his studies in computer science at Maynooth University.

‘He was gentle and calm,’ she said. ‘He is one of the sweetest souls. He’s always smiling. He doesn’t look for trouble. He’s not in a gang. He worked in Burger King, close to my house.

‘So, if this is happening, we don’t know why. We want justice for Qayyum. If he was still alive, he would be graduating next year. He’s still in school at Maynooth. This is an unbelievable shock.’

Mr Balogun had been working as a nightclub promoter before his death.