One of the two men suspected of carrying out a mass shooting at Bondi Beach was originally from southern India but had “limited contact” with his family there, police sources have said.
Sajid Akram, who died at the scene in Sydney on Sunday, was originally from the city of Hyderabad, a police official from the Indian state of Telangana said.
He had travelled to India just six times since moving to Australia in 1998 and his family “expressed no knowledge of his radical mindset or activities,” the official added.
Sajid, 50, and his 24-year-old son Naveed are suspected of killing 15 people and injuring dozens more at an event celebrating the Jewish festival of Hanukkah on Sunday.
Hyderabad, where Sajid Akram’s family is based, is the capital of Telangana state in southern India.
The Telangana police official told BBC Telugu Sajid had “visited India on six occasions after migrating to Australia, primarily for family-related reasons such as property matters and visits to his elderly parents”.
“It is understood that he did not travel to India even at the time of his father’s demise,” the official said.
“The factors that led to the radicalisation of Sajid Akram and his son, Naveed appear to have no connection with India or any local influence in Telangana.”
The official also said Sajid Akram had no criminal record in India, he had completed a degree and had moved to Australia in search of employment before marrying a woman “of European origin”.
Sajid Akram was an Indian passport holder, but his children were born in Australia and are Australian citizens, the official added.
Police are currently investigating why the father and son travelled to the Philippines in the weeks leading up to the attack. They arrived on 1 November and left on 28 November, the country’s immigration bureau confirmed to the BBC.
Sajid travelled using an Indian passport, while his son used Australian identification, the authorities said.
Citing security sources, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) said that the pair travelled to the island nation to receive “military-style training”, but officials have not been able to confirm those reports.
Philippines foreign affairs minister Maria Theresa Lazaro and her Australian counterpart, Penny Wong, have agreed to “keep each other closely informed” of any developments related to the investigation into the Bondi Beach shooting, according to a text message Lazaro sent to the media.
It is understood that Naveed Akram was previously investigated over ties to a Sydney-based IS terrorism cell, ABC reported.
IS is an extremist Islamist militant group that has claimed responsibility for a number of terrorist attacks across Europe and America, including the 2015 Paris attacks.
The Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Naveed Akram first came to the attention of the authorities in 2019 “on the basis of being associated with others”.
However, at the time, an “assessment was made that there was no indication of any ongoing threat or threat of him engaging in violence”.
By BBC News
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