Serious questions are being asked about why a man allegedly involved in the Bondi Beach terrorist attack was made to wait three years for a firearm licence, only to then purchase multiple guns in quick succession.
Unprecedented Delay in Licence Approval
Sajid Akram applied for his firearms licence in June 2020, but it was not issued until July 2023 – a period far exceeding the typical three-month processing time handled by the NSW Police Firearms Registry. Independent NSW MP Phil Donato, a former police prosecutor and licensed firearm holder, has publicly challenged the reasons for this extraordinary delay.
"I've never in my experience heard of someone waiting three years for an approval to be granted by the firearms registry," Mr Donato stated. "It begs the question – what was the reason for the delay? I don't accept it was a backlog of applications or being understaffed at the registry."
Son's Terror Links and Rapid Firearm Purchases
Mr Donato and an anonymous weapons expert have suggested the lengthy wait may be connected to the alleged activities of Sajid's son, Naveed Akram. It is believed that in 2021, the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) informed NSW Police that Naveed had allegedly met several Islamic extremists through street preaching groups.
Naveed was reportedly placed on a 'known entity' list, rather than a more active surveillance list. Crucially, he was still living at the family home in Bonnyrigg, western Sydney, when his father's gun licence application was under review.
Soon after the mandatory 28-day cooling-off period ended following his licence approval, Sajid Akram's purchasing spree began. On one Thursday night in September 2023, he bought three Category B firearms: a lever-release shotgun and two identical straight-pull centrefire rifles.
Under the National Firearm Agreement, buying several identical guns should trigger an investigation, requiring the purchaser to prove a genuine need for each weapon. Despite this, Sajid went on to acquire three more near-identical shotguns in June 2024, August 2024, and September 2025.
Systemic Failures and a Paper-Based Registry
An anonymous source familiar with gun laws was scathing of the oversight. "Authorities should have been on to this... That's ignoring all of the obvious reasons he shouldn't have had a gun licence in the first place, including that he lived at the same address as someone investigated for terrorist associations."
When questioned about the three-year licence delay, NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley pointed to systemic issues within the registry itself. She indicated that an alert sent to counter-terrorism police might not have reached the firearms unit and revealed that the registry operated on a paper-based system until it was fully digitised in 2023.
A NSW Police spokesperson confirmed that Sajid Akram's firearm licence "forms part of the investigation" into the Bondi Beach attack, which occurred on Sunday, 14 December, and declined to comment further. The alleged attack, targeting a Jewish festival celebrating Hanukkah, resulted in the deaths of 15 people, with victims ranging from 10-year-old Matilda to an 87-year-old Ukrainian Holocaust survivor.
