Police are currently investigating why the father and son travelled to the Philippines in the weeks leading up to the attack. They arrived on 1 November and left on 28 November, the country’s immigration bureau confirmed to the BBC.
Sajid travelled using an Indian passport, while his son used Australian identification, the authorities said.
Citing security sources, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) said that the pair travelled to the island nation to receive “military-style training”, but officials have not been able to confirm those reports.
Philippines foreign affairs minister Maria Theresa Lazaro and her Australian counterpart, Penny Wong, have agreed to “keep each other closely informed” of any developments related to the investigation into the Bondi Beach shooting, according to a text message Lazaro sent to the media.
It is understood that Naveed Akram was previously investigated over ties to a Sydney-based IS terrorism cell, ABC reported.
IS is an extremist Islamist militant group that has claimed responsibility for a number of terrorist attacks across Europe and America, including the 2015 Paris attacks.
The Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Naveed Akram first came to the attention of the authorities in 2019 “on the basis of being associated with others”.
However, at the time, an “assessment was made that there was no indication of any ongoing threat or threat of him engaging in violence”.