MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — An investigation that has extended to the Philippines of two men accused of shooting 15 people at a Sydney Jewish festival has found no evidence they were part of a “wider terrorist cell,” police said Tuesday.
Sydney residents Sajid Akram, 50, and his son Naveed Akram, 24, 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 29 November. Two weeks later, they are accused of killing 15 and wounding 40 others in a mass shooting targeting a Hannukah festival in Bondi Beach.
The Philippine National Police determined that the couple rarely left their hotel during the stay, Barrett said.
“There is no evidence to suggest that they received training or underwent logistical preparation for their alleged attack,” Barrett told reporters.
“These individuals are alleged to have acted alone. There is no evidence to suggest that these alleged offenders were part of a wider 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.
Barrett did not detail a motive for the visit, which began on November 1.
The police allege that the couple were inspired by the Islamic State group. The southern Philippines once attracted a small number of foreign militants aligned with the Islamic State or al-Qaida group to train in a secessionist conflict involving minority Muslims in the largely Catholic nation.
Barrett said she was limited in what she could reveal about the investigation in the Philippines because she did not want to prejudice Naveed Akram’s trial.
He has yet to plead to dozens of charges including 15 counts of murder and one count of committing a terrorist act. Police shot him in the stomach during a shootout in Bondi on December 14 and he spent a week in hospital before being transferred to prison. The Police killed his father in Bondi.
Authorities are promising the biggest police presence ever at New Year’s Eve celebrations on Sydney Harbor on Wednesday. More than 2,500 officers will be on duty. Many will be openly carrying automatic rifles, a sight rarely seen on the streets of Sydney.
The first police to respond to the Bondi massacre were armed with Glock pistols that lacked the lethal range of the Akrams’ rifles and shotguns. Among the injured were two police officers.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said the state was not moving towards a more militarized police force in response to the attack.
“Given that we’ve just had the worst terrorist event in Australian history in the last month, it would obviously be the case that things need to change and security needs to change,” Minns said.
“I understand that there will be some people who oppose this or consider it as the militarization of the police. My sense is that many more families fully support that type of police operation because they will feel much safer in that environment,” added Minns.
More than a million revelers throng the waterfront each year to watch a world-famous fireworks display centered on the Sydney Harbor Bridge.
Minns said he was concerned that any reduction in crowd numbers would be interpreted by extremists as a victory.
“It is an opportunity to thumb our nose at the terrorists and their ideology that we really have to live in a ball and not celebrate this beautiful city. So this is an opportunity to live your life and show a challenge to that kind of ideology,” said Minns.
The Bondi victims will be remembered with a minute’s silence at 11pm on Wednesday when four images of a Jewish candelabra known as a menorah will be projected onto the pylons of the bridge, Sydney Mayor Clover Moore said.
The local government authorities had planned to project an image of a dove with the word “peace,” but this was changed after consultation with Jewish representatives.
“I will continue to listen to the community to ensure that recognition of the horrific attack at Bondi Beach over New Year’s Day is appropriate,” Moore said in a statement.