Bondi Beach attack investigation finds no evidence of ‘wider terrorist cell’, police say

Melbourne, Australia — A wide-ranging investigation in the Philippines into two men accused of shooting dead 15 people at a Jewish holiday in Sydney has found no evidence they were part of a “larger 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 November 29. Two weeks later, they were accused of killing 15 people and injuring 40 others in a mass shooting that targeted a Hannukah festival at Bondi Beach.

The Philippine National Police determined that the two men rarely left their hotel during the visit, Barrett said.

“There is no evidence to suggest that they received any training or underwent any logistical preparation for their alleged attack,” Barrett told reporters.

“These individuals are believed to have acted alone. There is no evidence to suggest that these alleged attackers were part of a larger terrorist cell or were directed by others to carry out an attack. However, I want to be clear, I am not saying they were there for tourism,” Barrett added.

Barrett did not detail the reason for the visit, which began on November 1.

A receptionist at the Davao City hotel where the attackers were staying also told CBS News that they never left their room for more than a day. Jojo, who works at the GV Hotel, said the father and son arrived on November 1 and left on November 28. He said they extended their stay from week to week and paid in cash, and went out during the day but returned to the hotel every evening, often bringing food back to eat in their room.

Police and Australia’s prime minister have said the two men were inspired by the terrorist group ISIS. The southern Philippines once attracted small numbers of foreign militants aligned with ISIS or al-Qaeda to train in a secessionist conflict involving Muslim minorities in the largely Catholic country.

Tom Smith, academic director of the Royal Air Force College who studies security and terrorism in the Philippines and Southeast Asia, told CBS News it would be very difficult for foreigners to receive weapons training from the Islamic State-affiliated group in the region.

“They would stick out like a sore thumb,” Smith said. “When I go there, you know, I’m there with military support. I have a doctorate in the area, and even I stick out like a sore thumb.”

He said there were “a lot of armed people in Mindanao, Philippines, so they could go and practice, you know, shooting guns and so on. But that’s a long way from saying that this amounts to a terrorist camp.”

Barrett said she was limited in what she could disclose about the Philippines investigation because she did not want to harm Naveed Akram’s trial.

He has yet to enter a plea to dozens of charges, including 15 counts of murder and one of committing a terrorist act. Police shot him in the abdomen during a shooting in Bondi on December 14 and he spent a week in hospital before being transferred to a prison. Police shot dead his father in Bondi.

Authorities are promising the largest ever police presence at New Year’s Eve festivities on Sydney Harbor on Wednesday. More than 2,500 agents will be on duty. Many will openly carry automatic rifles, a sight rarely seen on Sydney’s streets.

THE Police first responders to Bondi massacre were armed with Glock pistols which lacked the lethal range of the Akram’s rifles and shotguns. Two police officers were among the injured.

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 just experienced the worst terrorist event in Australia’s history last month, it stands to reason that things need to change and security needs to change,” Minns said.

“I understand that there will be people who oppose this or view this as militarization of the police. I have a feeling that more families would fully support this type of police operation because they would feel much safer in this environment,” Minns added.

More than a million revelers flock to the waterfront each year to watch a world-famous fireworks display centered on Sydney’s Harbor Bridge.

Minns expressed concern that any reduction in spectator numbers would be interpreted by extremists as a victory.

“It’s an opportunity to thumb your nose at the terrorists and their ideology that would really want us to live in a ball and not celebrate this great city. So it’s an opportunity to live your life and challenge that kind of ideology,” Minns said.

The Bondi victims will be commemorated with a minute’s silence at 11 p.m. on Wednesday, when four images of a Jewish candelabra known as a menorah will be projected onto the bridge’s pylons, Sydney Mayor Clover Moore said.

Local authorities had planned to project images of a dove with the word “peace”, but this was changed after consultation with Jewish representatives.

“I continue to listen to the community to ensure recognition of the horrific attack at Bondi Beach over New Year’s Eve is appropriate,” Moore said in a statement.