Clip of Australian police announcing arrest of four Indian nationals over Bondi attack is AI-generated

"Australian authorities have arrested 5 individuals, including 4 Indian nationals, in connection with the Bondi Beach terror attack that killed 15 people and wounded dozens," reads a Facebook post published on December 20, 2025. 

The post, which has raked in more than 130,000 views, shares a clip of a press conference supposedly held by Australian Federal Police Commissioner Krissy Barrett, and it carries the watermark of The Guardian news outlet in the upper-right corner. 

In the first 11 seconds of the clip, Barrett apparently says, "authorities confirmed the arrest of four individuals of Indian nationality following the Bondi incident as part of ongoing investigative efforts".

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Screenshot taken on December 29 of the misleading Facebook post with a red X added by AFP

The clip circulated in the days after the December 14 attack in Bondi Beach. Fifteen people were killed and dozens more wounded when gunmen opened fire at a Hanukkah celebration on the world-famous surf beach (archived link).

Police described the mass shooting as a terrorist attack targeting the Jewish community, accusing the gunmen -- father Sajid Akram and his son Naveed -- of being driven by "Islamic State ideology". 

Indian police also confirmed that Sajid was an Indian citizen who left his home city of Hyderabad in 1998 and has had "limited contact with his family" since (archived link). Naveed is an Australian citizen.

The elder gunman was killed in a shootout with police while his son survived.

The clip of the police commissioner supposedly announcing more arrests of Indian nationals was also shared on Threads, X and TikTok. 

The circulating clip, however, is AI-generated and there have been no official reports about Australia arresting Indian nationals in connection with the Bondi Beach shooting.

AFP ran the clip through Hiya, an AI-detection tool, which found the audio was "very likely AI-generated" (archived link).

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Screenshot of the Hiya AI voice cloning detection tool results

The official transcript from the press conference on December 18, 2025 also shows Barrett made no such remarks (archived link). 

She in fact says: "Yesterday, a Bonnyrigg man was charged with allegedly committing a terrorist attack at Bondi beach, where 15 people were lethally shot and 49 were injured on 14 December 2025.

"He has been charged with 59 offences, including one count of committing a terrorist act; 15 counts of murder; 40 counts of causing wounding grievous bodily harm to person with intent to murder."

Combined reverse image and keyword searches found the original press conference footage published by The Guardian newspaper on December 18, 2025 shows Barrett making the same statement about the number of dead and injured, followed by the number of charges against the suspect (archived link).

At no point does she mention arresting Indian nationals.

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Screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and The Guardian's original video (right)

A Guardian spokesperson told AFP on December 31, 2025, "This video has never been published by the Guardian".

In a December 20, 2025 statement, the Australian Federal Police said they were aware of the circulating posts using "AI to distort and change the comments of AFP Commissioner Krissy Barrett in relation to the alleged Bondi Beach terror attack" (archived link).

"All statements made by Commissioner Barrett are published on the AFP website. The AFP recommends the public seek information from official websites," it said.

The clip was previously debunked by the Australian Associated Press (archived link). 

AFP has fact-checked a wave of misinformation about the Bondi Beach shooting and its perpetrators.