Naveed Akram was placed on a “known entity management list” in about 2021. (Photo: Video screengrab) Australian authorities may have overlooked warnings that could have avoided the Bondi Beach shooting last week, one of the deadliest terror attacks in the country’s history. Authorities were reportedly aware of Naveed Akram’s Islamic extremism links for years, and he was placed on a “known entity management list” in about 2021.
What ASIO said about Naveed Akram
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, before Sajid Akram was granted a gun licence, the domestic intelligence agency Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) had warned New South Wales (NSW) Police that his son, Naveed Akram, had been associating with Islamic extremists.
Citing a state security source, the report added that ASIO informed its NSW counterparts it had interviewed Naveed Akram and that the available intelligence had led its assessment in 2020 that he did not pose an ongoing risk that justified further monitoring.
Sajid Akram got gun licence in 2023
According to NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon, Sajid Akram’s 2015 licence application lapsed when he failed to provide a photograph, after which he reapplied in 2020 and was granted the licence in 2023.
The report added that it was these guns, acquired legally and registered in his name, that Akram and his son, Naveed, used for the mass shooting on Jews celebrating the first night of Hanukkah, killing 15 people and injuring around two dozen others.
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Philippines trip under scanner
The father-son duo was not listed on any passenger alert list, and their phones were not searched by Border Force officials after their return from the Philippines in November.
Sajid Akram and Naveed Akram allegedly carried out the terror attack on Sunday, inspired by the Islamic State. Though the reason for their recent trip to the Philippines is unclear, security agencies in both countries believe that they received “military-style” or “terrorist” training in the southern Philippines.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Wednesday there were “real issues” within the intelligence and policing services that would need to be examined in the wake of the terror attack.
“We need to look back at what happened in 2019 when this person was looked at, the assessment that was made,” Albanese told ABC Radio.
