(Adnkronos) – Australian police have formalized very serious charges against Naveed Akram, considered responsible for the most serious terrorist attack in the country’s history. The young man will face 59 charges, including 15 murders and a terrorism charge. According to investigators, he acted “inspired” by the self-proclaimed Islamic State.
According to initial reconstructions, Akram was already known to security services. Between October 2019 and April 2020, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) had launched an investigation into him when he was still a minor. However, the inquiry concluded without identifying a concrete threat.
At the time, Akram had recently turned 18, completed a vocational training course, and started an apprenticeship as a bricklayer, his first and only job. The events in question date back to late June 2019, when he was seen in front of Bankstown train station, in western Sydney, engaged in ‘street dawah’ activities, a form of public preaching with the aim of converting passersby to Islam.
Naveed Akram “was examined based on associations with other people – explained Prime Minister Anthony Albanese – The assessment was that there were no indications of an ongoing threat or the risk that he might resort to violence.”
Meanwhile, several Pakistani media outlets are circulating the news that the young man’s mother, identified as Venera Grosso, is Italian, while Indian sources merely state that she is a European woman. According to informed sources, the woman is not registered as an Italian citizen, although it is not excluded that she might be an unregistered person.
Investigators’ attention is now also focused on the father, Sajid Akram, who lived with his son. In 2023, the man had obtained a firearms license and had purchased six weapons in the following two years. Police are verifying whether the previous ASIO investigation into the son was taken into consideration at the time of issuing the license. Also under scrutiny is the trip made by father and son to the Philippines a few weeks before the alleged attack.
