Australian police: No proof Bondi shooting suspects received training in Davao City
MELBOURNE, Australia—An investigation that extended to the Philippines of two men accused of killing 15 people at a Jewish festival in Sydney has found no evidence that they were part of a “broader terrorist cell,” police said on Tuesday.
Sydney residents Sajid Akram, 50, and his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram spent most of November in Davao City in the southern Philippines, Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett said.
They returned on a flight from Manila on Nov. 29. On Dec. 14, father and son reportedly killed 15 people and wounded another 40 in a mass shooting that targeted a Hannukah festival at Bondi Beach.
The Philippine National Police determined that the pair rarely left their hotel during their visit to Davao City, Barrett told reporters.
“There is no evidence to suggest they received training or underwent logistical preparation for their alleged attack,” she said.
“These individuals are alleged to have acted alone. There is no evidence to suggest these alleged offenders were part of a broader terrorist cell, or were directed by others to carry out an attack. However, I want to be clear, I am not suggesting that they were there for tourism,” Barrett added.
Visit not tourism-related
Police allege the pair were inspired by the Islamic State group. The southern Philippines once drew small numbers of foreign militants aligned with the Islamic State group or al-Qaida to train in a secessionist conflict involving minority Muslims in the largely Catholic nation.
Barrett said she was limited in what she could disclose about the investigation in the Philippines because she did not want to prejudice Naveed Akram’s trial.
He has yet to enter pleas to dozens of charges, including 15 counts of murder and one of committing a terrorist act. Police shot him in the abdomen during the Dec. 14 shooting and he spent a week in a hospital before he was transferred to a prison. His father was shot dead by the police at Bondi.
Authorities are promising the largest police presence ever at New Year’s Eve festivities at Sydney Harbor on Wednesday. More than 2,500 officers will be on duty with many of them openly carrying automatic rifles, a sight rarely seen on Sydney streets.
The first police responders to the Bondi massacre were armed with Glock pistols that lacked the lethal range of the Akrams’ rifles and shotguns. Two police officers were among the wounded.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said the state was not moving toward a more militarized police force in response to the attack.
“Given we’ve just had the worst terrorism event in Australia’s history inside the last month, it would be self-evidently the case that things need to change and the security needs to change,” Minns said.
