Albanese added that the suspects were interrogated by the security services in 2019.
“There is no evidence that these men were part of a cell,” Albanese said, stressing that they were motivated by an extremist, anti-Semitic ideology. “It is an extreme perversion of Islam that has resulted in these disastrous consequences,” he added.
Police believe the duo acted independently, based on a search of two locations linked to them, since the surviving suspect, who is still in hospital, has not been questioned.
The Prime Minister confirmed that the duo was known to the security services. Sina was investigated by the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) for six months in 2019 “due to his links to two people who subsequently went to prison”, but the investigation concluded there was “no evidence” of his radicalisation.
As part of that investigation, the father was also questioned, but he too did not show “any signs of radicalization,” Albanese said. He added that he did not know whether the authorities then checked whether the father owned a weapon.
At a separate press conference, NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon confirmed the father had held a gun license since 2015, adding that police “know very little about them”.
(Vijesti.ba)
