The father and son behind the deadly Bondi Beach shooting in Sydney, Australia, were found to have spent nearly a month in Davao City, Mindanao, Philippines.
The largest island in the southern Philippines, Mindanao carries a decades-long history of extremism, leading to speculations that the suspects received training from terrorist groups while in the country.
According to MindaNews, 50-year-old Sajid Akram and 24-year-old Naveed Akram stayed at the GV hotel in Davao City from 1 to 28 Nov, but spent most of their time in their rooms.
Image adapted from People & The Australian.
“The longest that they would be outside would be around an hour, and they would be just back here in the hotel,” Jenelyn Sayson, a hotel staff member, told the news outlet.
Earlier, the Philippine Bureau of Immigration (BI) confirmed that the suspects arrived in the Philippines from Sydney on 1 Nov, reporting Davao as their final destination.
“They left the country on Nov 28, 2025 on a connecting flight from Davao to Manila, with Sydney as their final destination,” BI Spokesperson Dana Sandoval said.
Police reportedly asked the hotel staff for CCTV footage of the suspects, but were not able to collect any, as the hotel’s CCTV network only had a week’s worth of storage.
They also inspected the room where the father and son had stayed, but found nothing.
During the Akrams’ stay, the housekeeping staff only found trash from fast-food restaurants.
The suspects also had not left any items when they checked out.
Source: MindaNews
Ms Sayson said the pair had originally checked in with a confirmed online booking for seven days but extended their stay by a week at a time, paying in cash.
The two were never seen speaking with other guests or having any visitors.
Hotel staff observed that they would cross the street or walk towards the next block, but never took a ride or got picked up in front of the hotel.
Ms Sayson recalled that Naveed once asked a hotel staff member where they could buy durian. Despite being instructed on where to go, they came back empty-handed.
The staff reportedly never noticed anything unusual about the Akrams, thinking they merely had business in the city.
After seeing the pair in the news following the shooting incident, Ms Sayson remarked, “Naveed appeared to have had a recent haircut…he had longer hair when he was here.”
According to ABC News, a senior counterterrorism official said they suspect the Akrams had received “military-style training” during their time in the Philippines.
For decades, Mindanao has had a presence of both local and foreign extremist personalities and groups.
In 2016, Islamic extremists launched a terror attack in Marawi, a city in Mindanao approximately 185km away from Davao, resulting in significant military interference.
However, on Wednesday (17 Dec), the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said there are no indications that the Bondi Beach shooters had trained with terrorist groups during their stay in the country.
Source: Inquirer
“From the field units, the data states that there are no foreign terrorist activities in the area,” AFP spokesperson Colonel Francel Margareth Padilla said in a press briefing. “There are no trainings that are being conducted in the area.”
Meanwhile, AFP Public Affairs Office Chief Colonel Xerxes Trinidad emphasised that training for military purposes cannot be completed in just 30 days.
Mr Trinidad added that the older Akram was reportedly a gun club member, which means he knew how to use a gun and didn’t need training.
Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr has also firmly rejected the foreign media’s “sweeping statement and the misleading characterisation of the Philippines as the ISIS training hotspot“, said Palace Press Officer Claire Castro on Wednesday.
The palace spokesperson called on foreign media outlets to be “discerning and responsible” in their reporting, stressing that calling the country a terror hub could harm its integrity and image.
Ms Castro added that the president has ordered the Anti-Terrorism Council and member agencies to remain vigilant of any terrorist activity in the Philippines and coordinate with international counterparts to safeguard national security.
Also read: 12 dead so far after shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, 1 shooter killed & another arrested
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Featured image adapted from ABC, MindaNews.