Australia’s security establishment is reassessing past intelligence after confirming that one of the Bondi Beach attackers had previously appeared on the radar of the country’s domestic spy agency.
ASIO director-general Mike Burgess addressed the issue publicly, saying, “One of these individuals was known to us, but not in an immediate-threat perspective, so we need to look into what happened here.”
Police say the deadly assault unfolded Sunday night during a Chanukah gathering marking the first evening of the Yom Tov, when Naveed Akram, 24, and his father, Sajid Akram, 50, opened fire, killing 15 people. Naveed Akram was wounded and remains hospitalized under police guard, while his father was killed during a gun battle with responding officers.
In the aftermath, authorities launched Operation Shelter, dispatching 328 police officers to guard synagogues and other religious institutions across the region. Investigators also confirmed that only two perpetrators were involved in the attack.
According to an ABC News report, ASIO had examined Naveed Akram as far back as six years ago due to his links to a Sydney-based ISIS network. That scrutiny intensified following the July 2019 arrest of Isaac El Matari, a convicted ISIS operative now serving a seven-year sentence for plotting an Islamic State insurgency after declaring himself the group’s Australian commander. Officials say Naveed Akram maintained close ties with El Matari and other members of that cell, all of whom were later convicted on terrorism charges.
Investigators from the Joint Counter Terrorism Team — a multi-agency task force that includes ASIO, NSW Police, the Australian Federal Police, and the NSW Crime Commission — believe the attackers had pledged allegiance to ISIS. Two ISIS flags were discovered inside their vehicle at Bondi Beach, with one clearly visible on the bonnet in footage taken at the scene.
As part of the investigation, heavily armed police carried out raids at the Akram family home in Bonnyrigg, in Sydney’s southwest, as well as an AirBnB property in Campsie where the two men had been staying.
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon disclosed additional details about the weapons used, stating that Sajid Akram had legally held a firearms license for ten years. “He has six firearms licensed to him. We are satisfied that we have six firearms from the scene yesterday,” he said, emphasizing that the license had been properly regulated.
The revelations have intensified questions about intelligence oversight and threat assessment, as authorities continue piecing together how a known extremist link escalated into one of the deadliest antisemitic attacks in Australia’s history.
