Authorities said 24-year-old Naveed Akram is expected to be questioned within hours. Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon told radio station 2GB that investigators are moving quickly as new details continue to emerge about the attackers’ background and extremist ties.
As the investigation continues, mourners are preparing to bury the first of the victims.
Officials have also confirmed new information about the gunmen. Indian police said late Tuesday that Sajid Akram, 50, who was killed at the scene, was an Indian national originally from Hyderabad. He migrated to Australia in 1998 after completing a commerce degree and had little contact with his family in India in recent years, Telangana state police said, according to Bloomberg.
Investigators say the attack was tied to Islamist extremism. Police confirmed that homemade Islamic State flags were discovered inside a vehicle registered to one of the attackers. Authorities in Manila also revealed the pair had traveled last month to a region of the Philippines known for Islamic State-aligned activity.
Naveed Akram had previously been on the radar of Australia’s domestic intelligence agency. He was investigated in 2019 and was found to have associations with members of a Sydney-based Islamic State cell. He was also a follower of radical cleric Wisam Haddad, ABC reported.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the motive and overseas travel remain under investigation. “This was ISIS-inspired extremist ideology leading to a terrorist attack,” Albanese said on ABC Radio Wednesday, calling the consequences for the Jewish community “tragic.”
Lanyon also clarified that Sajid Akram received his firearms license in 2023, not 2015 as initially stated, a point now under scrutiny given his son’s prior intelligence history.
As of Tuesday night, 22 victims remained hospitalized. Meanwhile, donations for Ahmed Al Ahmed, the 43-year-old man who tackled and disarmed one of the attackers, have surpassed AU$2.4 million.
The massacre is the deadliest antisemitic attack in Australian history.
