Indian police announced that Sajid Akram, one of the perpetrators of the Bondi Beach attack in Australia, is an Indian national who left the country 27 years ago. Australian media, meanwhile, reported that the two attackers travelled to the Philippines a month before the operation to receive military training.
Sajid and his son Naved, who is listed in Australian immigration records as an Australian citizen according to authorities, opened fire on a crowd celebrating the Jewish Festival of Lights, Hanukkah, last Sunday, killing 15 people.
Police in the southern Indian state of Telangana said in a statement that “Sajid Akram’s origins are from Hyderabad, India. He migrated to Australia in search of employment approximately 27 years ago, in November 1998”.
The statement added that, based on information available from his relatives in India, “Sajid Akram’s contact with his family in Hyderabad was limited after his departure”. It explained that “he visited India on six occasions after migrating to Australia, mainly for family related reasons such as property matters and to visit his elderly parents”.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stated that the father and son who carried out the shooting, described as one of the deadliest in the country, were driven by “Islamic State ideology”.
Telangana police clarified that they have “no negative record” of Sajid from the period he spent in India prior to leaving, adding that “his family members said they were unaware of his extremist ideology or activities, nor of the circumstances that led him to radicalisation”.
The statement noted that “the factors that led to the radicalisation of Sajid Akram and his son Naved appear to have no connection to India or to any local influence in Telangana”.
Trained in the Philippines
Separately, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation quoted security sources who declined to be identified as saying that the father and son travelled to southern Philippines a month before the attack, before returning to Australia.
Sources familiar with the investigation said that the attackers’ links to an “international jihadist network” have come under scrutiny following their travel to the Philippines.
Since 2014, the Islamic State organisation has sought to establish cells in the Philippines and has been active in carrying out attacks across various parts of the country under names such as Abu Sayyaf and the Islamic State supporters in the Philippines.
The Philippine Bureau of Immigration confirmed that the two gunmen travelled to the Philippines on 1 November last year aboard Philippine Airlines flight PR 212 from Sydney to Manila, and then onward to the city of Davao.
The bureau’s spokesperson said that Sajid travelled on an Indian passport, while his son Naved, an Australian citizen, used an Australian passport. They arrived together on the same flight.
The man and his son departed on 28 November last year on the same route from Davao via Manila to Sydney, weeks before the attack.
