- PRO XI: Sydney shooting suspects did not train Mindanao
THE POLICE Regional Office (PRO) XI has officially ruled out any terrorist activity in the stay of the two shooters at the Davao City Hotel before their deadly terrorist attack late last year in Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia.
Police Brigadier General Leon Victor Rosete, director of PRO XI, clarified to reporters on Thursday, March 5, 2026, that the investigation into the father-and-son duo—Sajid Akram, 50, and Naveed, 24—showed no signs of extremist plotting during their time in the region.
The findings were based on a thorough digital forensic extraction of cellphones recovered by local authorities.
“It’s not connected to terrorist activity,” Rosete emphasized. “We saw on the recovered cellphones that we extracted… it is not connected to terrorist activities.”
The suspects had checked into a hotel in Davao City weeks before the Dec. 14, 2025, tragedy at Bondi Beach, which claimed 15 lives.
Following the shooting, Australian authorities engaged with Philippine counterparts to trace the suspects’ movements.
Sajid Akram was killed in a shootout with Australian police, while his son, Naveed, sustained injuries during the incident.
While clearing them of terrorism, Rosete hinted that the pair may have initially traveled to the Philippines with different intentions that never came to fruition.
“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 suspects remained at the GV Hotel for the duration of their stay rather than traveling to remote areas usually associated with clandestine training.
“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.
The PRO XI confirmed that all intelligence gathered, including digital evidence and surveillance data from their stay in Davao, has been turned over to Australian authorities to assist in their ongoing investigation into the motivation behind the Sydney attack.
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