The Police walk past floral tributes left at the promenade of Bondi Beach in Sydney on 18 December, 2025, to honour victims of the shooting that took place there on 14 December. Photo: DAVID GRAY / AFP
A senior NSW police officer says investigators believe a group of men arrested in Sydney's south-west have "extremist Islamic ideology" and may have been en-route to Bondi.
Heavily armed officers arrested seven men in Liverpool on Thursday.
Police said the men had travelled from interstate and were known to Victorian Police.
Tactical police rammed two cars the men were in and officials say there is "some indication" Bondi was one of the locations the men planned to visit.
NSW Police Deputy Commissioner David Hudson said the only weapon found was a knife and there were no guns.
Speaking to 702 ABC Radio Sydney on Friday morning, Deputy Commissioner Hudson said the men were known to police.
"We have some indication that Bondi was one of the locations they might be visiting yesterday but with no specific intent in mind or proven at this stage," he said.
When asked whether the men had links to "extremist Islamic ideology", Deputy Commissioner Hudson replied: "That's our belief at this stage, yes".
The men were detained under rarely-used terrorism and national security legislation which allow law enforcement to detain and question suspects for up to a week before being charged.
Deputy Commissioner Hudson said tactical officers acted "before they had the ability to obtain any further capability".
"We made the decision that our tolerance for risk and threshold for risk is, as you can understand, very low at the moment following last Sunday's atrocities," he said of the declared terror attack that killed 15.
- ABC
