Bondi Beach suspect was ‘closely connected’ to ISIS terrorist — but later dropped from monitoring

One of the Bondi Beach terror attack suspects was a “closely connected” to a convicted ISIS terrorist who was busted in 2019 — but was dropped from suspicion after just six months, a bombshell report revealed.

Naveed Akram, 24 — who is in police custody after he and his father, Sajid, 50, allegedly killed 15 people on Sunday during a Hanukkah celebration — had been an associate of Islamic extremist Isaac El Matari, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Naveed Akram is seen in a screengrab of a video taken during the mass shooting at Bondi Beach on Sunday. Sky News

Akram was an associate of Islamic extremist Isaac El Matari Facebook/Isaac el Matari

Matari, 26, was a member of an Islamic State cell that had been planning an attack in Australia before being arrested in 2019, and later sentenced to more than seven years behind bars.

Akram had allegedly been in contact with Matari, who was looking for supporters at the time, but the 24-year-old was not a member of the terror cell when it was busted by police, according to the ABC.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed that Akram had been on the Australian Security Intelligence Organization’s watchlist in 2019 for six months before he was deemed to not pose an immediate threat to the country.

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