One of the terrorist shooters in Sunday's deadly Bondi Beach shooting in Australia was investigated by Australian intelligence (ASIO) in 2019 for potentially having ties to the global terrorist network ISIS, according to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
Albanese said Australian-born citizen Naveed Akram, now identified as the survivor among the two attackers, first came to the attention of authorities six years ago due to his associations with others linked to radical activity, The Sydney Morning Herald reported Monday.
"The son first came to attention in October 2019," Albanese told reporters Monday afternoon in a news conference.
"He was examined on the basis of being associated with others, and the assessment was made that there was no indication of any ongoing threat or threat of him engaging in violence.
"The assessment was made because of the son's associations that he had at that time, and the investigation went for a period of six months."
The attack, which targeted a Hanukkah ceremony at Bondi Beach, killed at least 15 people and has been designated a terrorist act by New South Wales police.
Akram's father, Sajid Akram, was shot dead by police at the scene, while his son remains in the hospital in a critical but stable condition.
The pair, who reportedly told family they were going fishing for the weekend after returning "from a trip to the Philippines, a known breeding ground for Islamic extremism, were actually holed up in a small, grey brick home in Campsie," according to another Herald report.
"The short-term rental lets out rooms to travelers by the night."
The paper quoted the alleged surviving terrorist's mother.
"He rings me up and said, 'Mum, I just went for a swim. I went scuba diving. We're going … to eat now, and then this morning, and we're going to stay home now because it's very hot,'" Naveed's mother, Verena, said Monday as police surrounded the family home at Bonnyrigg.
Police said there was little prior intelligence on either man and confirmed the father had legally owned six firearms for a decade.
"The assessment of ASIO was with respect to his associations rather than, at that point, there being personal motivation from him," Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke told the paper.
The revelations have prompted scrutiny of whether warning signs were missed and intensified calls for tougher gun laws.
Albanese said the National cabinet would move to tighten firearms regulations, including limits on gun ownership, shorter license periods, and accelerating a national firearms register, arguing that "people's circumstances change," and licenses should not be permanent.
Australian officials have said there is no evidence at this stage that foreign state actors were involved in the attack.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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