Father and son did not receive any external help and were not part of any terrorist organization
The two perpetrators of the attack in Australia, which killed 15 people, apparently did not receive external help and were not part of any terrorist organization, the police announced today.
“It is believed these individuals acted alone,” Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett told reporters.
“There is no evidence to suggest that these suspects were part of a larger terrorist cell or that they were instructed by a third party to carry out this attack,” he added.
On December 14, Sajid Akram, 50, an Indian who entered Australia on a visa in 1998, and his son Naveed Akram, born in the country 24 years ago, opened fire on attendees at the Jewish Hanukkah festival on Bondi Beach, outside Sydney.
The two suspects traveled to the south of the Philippines in the weeks before the massacre, a trip that fueled suspicions of possible links to extremists, in a region known for several Islamic insurgencies.
Barrett assured that the police will continue to investigate the reasons for their stay in Davao, where security camera footage shows that they barely left the hotel during that period.
“I want to make it clear. I’m not implying that they were there for tourism”, he clarified.
Police believe the pair meticulously planned the attack for months and released footage of the father and son training with firearms in the Australian outback.
According to the police, the two men also recorded a video in October denouncing ‘Zionists’, sitting in front of a flag of the terrorist group Islamic State.
After announcing that he intends to toughen Australian legislation against extremism, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Friday a program to buy back firearms in circulation.
Albanese stated that “there is no reason why a person living in the suburbs of Sydney would need so many firearms”, in reference to the six weapons legally owned by Sajid Akram.
The federal government’s initiative represents the largest gun buyback since 1996, when Australia tightened regulations on firearms following a shooting that left 35 people dead in Port Arthur.
On Monday, families of victims of the attack called on the Prime Minister to establish a federal commission to investigate the “rapid rise of anti-Semitism” in Australia.
In the letter, 17 families urged Albanese to “immediately establish a commission” and examine the “failures in law enforcement, intelligence services and public policy that led to the massacre.”
In Australia, federal commissions are the highest-level bodies of public inquiry.
The families argued that the rise in anti-Semitism constitutes a “national crisis” and a “persistent threat.”
