Davao City mosques in Philippines to display photos of Sajid and Naveed Akram
Davao City: Pictures of the Bondi gunmen will be hung in at least 70 mosques in Davao, Philippines, as local Muslim leaders try to uncover information about what father and son were doing during a month-long visit before killing 15 people in Australia.
Davao region’s top Islamic cleric, Sheikh Muhammad Yusop Pasigan, who on Sunday displayed the A4 printout with images and basic details of Sajid and Naveed Akram, told the imprint that the men were “not good, not good people” and that members of the community should call the police with any information.
“We will hang this in front and behind the doors of our mosques,” he said.
“One of the other measures taken is that we will collect the information and identities of new arrivals to mosques. If they resist and [cause trouble]we will call [local emergency number] 911.”
The Akrams’ movements during so-called short trips outside their budget hotel rooms in Davao from Nov. 1 to Nov. 28 are at the center of a multifaceted investigation by Philippine authorities that has so far yielded only a handful of CCTV footage.
The Philippine National Police confirmed that Sajid, 50, visited one of the many gun shops in the city. They also confirmed other footage recorded on a street camera of the couple going for a slow jog and walk in an area of the hotel. In another video, first published by ABC, Naveed, 24, is seen walking near the hotel in the early morning hours.
A police spokesman on Sunday had no knowledge of a report from News Corp that one of the investigations suggested was a visit by two other Sydney men in Davao City that overlapped with the Akrams’ stay.
Despite being off the typical tourist route, Australian tourists are commonplace in Davao. Many visit the city as part of surfing trips to the famous break of Siargao Island in northern Mindanao.
Davao, like the Philippines, is mostly Catholic, but it is also the largest city on Mindanao Island, where Islamist militants have historically been active in areas accessible by road. Homemade Islamic State flags were found in the car the Akrams used to drive to Bondi Beach for the December 14 shooting.
The Philippine government last week responded to media reports that it believed Mindanao was portrayed as a hub for violent extremism and terrorist training centers, saying Islamic State-inspired groups were “fragmented, deprived of leadership, and operationally degraded.”
Staff at the GV Hotel, where Akrams stayed for 27 days, said the men only left their rooms for an hour or two a day. If true, this would mean that they would not be able to travel very far from Davao.
When asked whether there were Islamic extremist elements in the city, Sheikh Pasigan said he had “no information”.
He said he was scheduled to meet with another senior Islamist leader soon to share information and discuss ways to provide information about the Bondi attackers to the Muslim community. He also suggested that the leadership could conduct its own investigation to provide information to the police.
Regional police chief Leon Victor Rosete said Sunday that investigators were still conducting “tracking operations” to identify people with whom the Akrams interacted and to assess “possible connections to their support networks.”
Take notes directly from our foreign country reporters about things that make headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What’s on in the World Newsletter.
Zach Hope is a Southeast Asia correspondent. He is a former reporter for the Brisbane Times.Connect via email.
