Updated ,first published
Davao City: The Bondi gunmen’s stay in the Philippines just weeks before allegedly killing 15 people in Australia may have included a trip far beyond Davao City to an area with a history of violent Islamic extremism, according to a source close to the investigation.
Father and son Sajid and Naveed Akram spent most of November on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, but until now, there had been no suggestion of them travelling any further than Davao City.
Staff from the GV Hotel, where the Akrams had stayed from November 1 to 28, had said the men only left their third-floor room for one or two hours each day.
But a source, who asked to remain anonymous so they could speak freely, revealed to this masthead that phone-tracking techniques may have detected one of the Akrams’ phones in the town of M’lang, roughly three hours’ drive from Davao City.
M’lang, in North Cotabato province, is near historical strongholds of Islamic State-inspired groups Daulah Islamiyah (DI) and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF).
DI was blamed for the 2021 torching of a passenger bus in M’lang that killed three people and a 2016 bombing in Davao City that killed 15.
Philippine authorities insist such organisations have been severely degraded in recent years; they killed DI leader Salahuddin Hassan in 2021 after a 30-minute gun battle in remote Mindanao.
It is not known whether the Akrams did, in fact, visit M’lang and, if so, how long one or both stayed, or who they met while there.
In Davao City, Sajid Akram visited a small gun shop a few hundred metres from the hotel, a staff member said. She told this masthead that Akram stood side-on to her, looking at pictures of guns on the wall and at a display cabinet with protective vests. He was memorable to the staff member because he did not respond when asked if there was anything she could help him with.
The men are also believed to have visited a resort, about seven kilometres from their hotel, and an Islamic centre called Mercy Islamic Foundation (MIF), about 2.5 kilometres from the hotel.
MIF president Sheikh Mohammed Habeb Al-Khulaqi said it was impossible to know if the Akrams visited because as many as 600 worshippers turned up at Friday prayers. But he said the centre had turned over all of its CCTV footage to investigators and wanted to help in any way it could.
“We are one team,” he said. “There is no mercy for these kinds of people. Muslim or non-Muslim, they are a cancer on this country.”
Sheikh Al-Khulaqi said violent extremists in Mindanao did not accept MIF as legitimate because its documents and permits were registered by “non-believers” in Davao’s Catholic-majority town hall.
Philippine authorities confirmed one line of inquiry, first reported by News Corp, that investigators were looking at the movements of two other Sydney men whose trip to Davao City overlapped with part of the Akrams’ stay. However, no red flags had yet been discovered, and the Akrams and the other Sydney pair might have been, and remained, strangers.
A Philippine National Police spokeswoman said there was not yet any evidence to back up a report in international media that suggested the Akrams visited a town called Panabo, about 30 kilometres from Davao City.
Muslimin Sema, chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), an Islamic separatist group that signed a peace agreement with Manila in 1996, said it was a “national concern” if the Akrams had been helped in their deadly endeavours while in the Philippines.
“If there were meetings like that, they would be hidden from the public. It is possible,” he said. “We must ensure that even if people with such thinking come here, they do not find individuals who harbour grievances against the government.”
Bondi Beach incident helplines:
- Bondi Beach Victim Services on 1800 411 822
- Bondi Beach Public Information & Enquiry Centre on 1800 227 228
- NSW Mental Health Line on 1800 011 511 or Lifeline on 13 11 14
- Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 or chat online at kidshelpline.com.au
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Zach Hope is South-East Asia correspondent. He is a former reporter at the Brisbane Times.Connect via email.
