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Authorities are honing in on a critical aspect of a counter-terrorism investigation: a trip to the Philippines. What remains elusive, and may ultimately go unconfirmed, is the precise nature of their activities during their stay.
The area they visited is notorious for its links to terrorist groups with alignments to the IS organization, heightening concerns over their presence there.
According to immigration records, the individuals in question arrived in the Philippines on November 1st, departing for Australia on November 28th.
During their time in the country, local police confirmed that the pair resided at the GV Hotel in Davao. The authorities made this confirmation on Wednesday, noting that the individuals did not change accommodations throughout their stay.
The GV Hotel is where Sajid and Naveed Akram, who are suspects in the tragic Bondi Beach shooting, reportedly stayed last November. This location has since become a focal point in the ongoing investigation.
One of the rooms at GV Hotel where Sajid and Naveed Akram, suspects in the deadly Bondi Beach shooting, stayed last November. Source: Getty / Ezra Acayan
Staff of the GV Hotel said the pair rarely left the hotel and had minimal interactions with other guests or staff.
One hotel worker, Jenelyn Sayson, told The Guardian the Akrams did not behave suspiciously during their stay.
Visit to gun shop
“Our reviewing of CCTVs is ongoing so we can see the other places they visited and the people they could have spoken with,” she said.
Police inquiries had also revealed that neither of the men had visited any of the city’s seven gun ranges, he said.
Possible contact with an IS group
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said this week the evidence of the flags showed that the “radical perversion of Islam is absolutely a problem” both in the country and around the globe.
He was investigated for six months by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) in 2019 “because of his connections with two people who subsequently … went to jail,” Albanese said.
The GV Hotel in Davao is where the pair reportedly spent most of their time, according to local authorities and hotel staff. Source: Getty / Ezra Acayan
That investigation concluded there was no evidence he had been radicalised, and he was not subject to ongoing monitoring after the investigation ended. His father Sajid was shot dead by police during the Bondi attack.
“You can’t just go to the southern Philippines and show up at an IS-run training camp and ask; there’s a level of connectivity and a set of relationships that you would need to have in place,” he told ABC Radio on Wednesday morning.
Were they trained by an IS group?
“They would go out and come back after two or three hours, the longest was eight hours, but still … that time window [would] not suffice for them to get out of Davao,” he said.
