Looking for answers: Police guarding a hotel in Davao City where Bondi beach suspects reportedly stayed while in the country. — AP
The father-and-son duo alleged to have gunned down 15 people on Australia’s Bondi Beach holed themselves up in a Philippines hotel for weeks and left a tip on their way out, staff said.
Australian authorities are investigating whether Sajid Akram and his son Naveed trained with extremists last month during a trip to the southern Mindanao region where there is a long history of extremist insurgencies.
The Philippines says there is no evidence to suggest that the country was being used to coach terrorists.
The men entered the Philippines on Nov 1, with Davao listed as their final destination, immigration officials confirmed this week.
They checked into room 315 of the GV Hotel the same day, paying 930 pesos (RM64) per night for the small room with two single beds.
The men typically only left their room for an hour or so each day and largely kept to themselves, night desk manager Angelica Ytang, 20, said yesterday.
“Other foreigners usually chat with me, but they didn’t,” she said, adding her only interactions were with Naveed, while the father “always looked down” and avoided eye contact.
The pair never discussed the purpose of their stay and would typically leave the hotel in the morning but “didn’t stay out long... the longest we observed was about one hour”, Ytang said.
One outing included a hunt for durian.
“They asked me, ‘Where can we buy durian?’” Ytang said, adding the search had been unsuccessful.
Ytang said she had never seen the men meet with anyone or take a vehicle.
“They just walked around. That’s all they did.”
Staff recognised their faces instantly in news reports about the Sydney massacre, she said.
Ytang said the Akrams had left a tip on their departure.
“I said, ‘Sir, you forgot your deposit’. The son took it, then the father said to give it to me,” Ytang said.
“(Naveed) said, ‘That’s yours.’ They were kind. I still can’t believe they were like that.” — AFP
