Australian police announced this Friday that the seven people arrested the previous day in Sydney on suspicion of planning a violent act could soon be released if they do not find enough evidence, indicating that there is no confirmed link between the group and the gunmen who killed 15 people on Sunday on Bondi Beach, in the same city where about 2,000 people celebrated the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.
This was stated by New South Wales Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon, who stated that those arrested came from the neighboring state of Victoria in the southwestern tip of the continent. As ABC reported, one of those arrested was being investigated by the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO).
However, police have indicated they will have to release the entire group if they do not find enough evidence to extend their detention, although they will be monitored during their stay in the state, according to the commissioner.
Lanyon has indicated that Bondi Beach may have been one of several locations they planned to visit, although they do not know “the true motive or likely possible violent attack” that authorities have attributed to the seven men.
“We were not prepared to take risks,” he defended, arguing that the police “see radical Islamic extremism as one of the ideologies behind these men.”
The allegation is consistent with previous statements by New South Wales Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson, who has said the men involved were known to Victoria Police and that the only weapon found when the group was arrested was a knife.
Hudson also pointed to links to “extremist Islamic ideology” and stressed that after the Bondi Beach attack “the risk tolerance and the risk threshold (…) are very low.”
Precisely regarding the ideology and the attack on Bondi Beach, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also stated this Friday that the National Intelligence Office had received a video of an Islamic State broadcast that “reinforces the idea” that the shooting was “an attack inspired by the terrorist organization.”
“Today we were informed that the Office of National Intelligence has identified a regular online video feed from the Islamic State that supports the belief that this was an Islamic State-inspired attack,” Albanese said, as ABC itself reported.
However, the president has indicated that “the security authorities continue to work on the motivation for the attack” and that the executive branch will continue to meet with them “to give them the support they need”, although six meetings of this kind have already taken place since the attack last Sunday.
Bondi Beach was the scene of a celebration of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, which began on Sunday. According to participants, about 2,000 people had gathered at the event at the time of the attack, which also left more than 40 people injured to varying degrees.
The attack was carried out by two attackers, a deceased father and his arrested 24-year-old son. According to the Australian police, this was a terrorist attack that was specifically aimed at the participants in the above-mentioned event.
About The Author
