POLICE Regional Office-Davao Region (PRO-Davao) has ruled out any terrorist-related activity during the stay of Bondi Beach attack suspects in Davao City prior to the deadly incident in December 2025.
PRO-Davao Regional Director Leon Victor Rosete said authorities found no indication that the suspects conducted terrorism-related planning or training while they were in the region, following a detailed investigation that included digital forensic examination of mobile phones recovered by law enforcement.
“It’s not connected to terrorist activity,” Rosete emphasized during a press briefing on Thursday, March 5. “We saw on the recovered cellphones that we extracted… it is not connected to terrorist activities.”
Deadly Bondi Beach tragedy
The December 14, 2025 attack at Bondi Beach shocked Australia and drew global attention after two gunmen opened fire on a crowd gathered for a Hanukkah celebration known as “Chanukah by the Sea.” The shooting killed at least 15 people and injured more than 40 others, including children and police officers, making it the deadliest mass shooting in the country in nearly three decades.
Authorities said the attack unfolded in the early evening when the gunmen fired dozens of rounds into the crowd in a matter of minutes before police responded. One of the suspects, 50-year-old Sajid Akram, was killed during a shootout with responding officers, while his son, Naveed Akram, 24, was wounded and later taken into custody.
Investigators in Australia later classified the attack as a terrorist incident, citing extremist motives and the discovery of improvised explosive devices that failed to detonate at the scene.
Suspects’ stay in Davao
The suspects’ presence in Davao City came under scrutiny shortly after the attack when reports surfaced that the father-and-son duo had stayed at a hotel in the city for nearly a month prior to the incident.
Hotel records and staff accounts indicated that the two checked in on November 1 and remained there until November 28, mostly staying inside their room and leaving only briefly each day.
CCTV footage later reviewed by investigators also captured a man resembling Naveed Akram walking along a street in Davao in mid-November, adding to efforts by authorities to reconstruct the suspects’ movements before they returned to Australia.
The revelation prompted extensive coverage from several media outlets in Davao and across the Philippines, as well as international reports examining whether the suspects had used their time in the country for militant training.
Investigation and backtracking operations
Rosete said the regional police command immediately conducted backtracking operations after the authorities confirmed that the suspects indeed stayed in the city.
The investigation involved reviewing hotel records, analyzing CCTV footage, examining travel data, and identifying individuals who may have interacted with the pair during their stay.
The investigation was conducted in coordination with other security agencies, including the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, and the National Bureau of Investigation.
According to Rosete, the investigation showed that the suspects largely remained within Davao City and did not travel to remote areas typically associated with militant training.
“Maybe their intention in coming here was to get some training, but somehow along the way, it did not materialize,” Rosete explained.
He noted that the pair stayed in the hotel for most of their visit rather than moving around extensively.
“If you connect the training process, it would entail longer periods — one or two weeks. But the situation was different; they stayed at the hotel the whole time and did not go anywhere else,” he added.
Authorities earlier said that neither of the suspects had visited any gun ranges in the city, while their recorded movements showed only brief trips outside their hotel during the nearly month-long stay.
Information shared with Australia
PRO-Davao said all intelligence gathered from the investigation, including digital forensic data and surveillance findings, has been shared with Australian authorities to assist in the continuing probe into the motive behind the Bondi Beach attack.
The regional police command reiterated that it remains committed to maintaining security in the Davao Region and assured the public that the investigation found no evidence linking the suspects’ activities in the Philippines to the terrorist act carried out in Sydney. DEF