‘Islamic State’ link to kidnap of aged couple
Terror group’s flag in KZN leads cops to hidden stash — but mystery is unsolved
● It was a R700 000 spending spree by alleged Islamic State loyalists Fatima Patel and Sayfydeen Aslam Del Vecchio that alerted police to the disappearance of an elderly Cape Town couple and a clandestine extremist operation in rural KwaZulu-Natal.
The pair are alleged to have used the credit cards of the couple, who they are accused of kidnapping. In the course of a few days they hopped from mall to mall along the North Coast, amassing jewellery, camping gear and electronic devices. The cache of goods was discovered in a remote hideaway on the fringes of a secluded nature reserve near Eshowe.
It was there, on a hilltop, with an IS flag flying, that Patel and Del Vecchio were arrested.
The couple, British nationals who have lived in South Africa for about 30 years, were holidaying in northern KwaZulu-Natal when they were abducted. The Sunday Times is not identifying them to protect them.
How they might have crossed paths with Patel and Del Vecchio remains a mystery.
As the search for the couple in the expansive bushy region entered its second week, hope was fading that they would be found alive. Police found their bloodied car 300km from where they were last seen on February 9.
The couple, who left Cape Town on February 5 and were due back on February 15, have no children. Family and friends contacted by the police have been instructed not to speak to the media.
The official charge sheet provides a window into the Cape Town couple’s missing days and the abuse they are thought to have suffered at the hands of their captors, who robbed them of their car, bank cards and other possessions.
It also details Patel and Del Vecchio’s links to IS.
Previously arrested
As well as facing charges of kidnapping, robbery and theft, they stand accused of contravening the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act by hoisting an IS flag at a modest homestead in what the charge sheet refers to as “Endloxini Reserve”, near Mtunzini.
Del Vecchio, 38, faces a second terrorismrelated charge, for allegedly participating in “extremist” web forums that “support ISIS, and offering to supply phone numbers and sim cards that are not traceable”. He also faces a charge of malicious damage to property following the burning of a sugar-cane farm in Umdloti in September.
Patel, 27, was previously arrested — together with her brother Ebrahim and twin brothers Brandon-Lee and Tony-Lee Thulsie — in Azaadville on the West Rand by the Hawks, during antiterrorism raids in July 2016. The twins were accused of planning terrorist attacks at the behest of IS.
After the Hawks and counterterror operatives established that two suspects on their watch list had control of the couple’s cards, a team comprising intelligence agents, tactical police and members of the Hawks swooped on the homestead on February 15.
Patel and Del Vecchio appeared in the Vryheid Magistrate’s Court on Monday. Their attorney, Yousha Tayob, confirmed that he was representing the pair and that they were remanded in custody in Westville Prison.
Travel advisory
Hawks spokesman Captain Lloyd Ramovha said that owing to the “ongoing investigations and the sensitive nature of the probe”, he was unable to comment on details specific to the case.
The abduction of the couple prompted the British government to post a travel advisory detailing the threat of terror attacks on foreign interests in South Africa.
Institute for Security Studies researcher Martin Ewi said the arrests of Patel and Del Vecchio served to confirm the presence of an active terror cell in South Africa.
“We in the counterterror fraternity suspected that they were working as members of an active cell, and the kidnapping will confirm the presence of an active IS cell.”
He said that while the existence of terrorists in South Africa was confirmed by local intelligence organisations, the level of their presence and activity was under debate.
South Africa was regarded as a logistics base for terror cells in transit, and not traditionally a target for attacks.
Ebrahim Deen, a researcher at the AfroMiddle East Centre, downplayed the issuing of the travel advisory, saying that South African Muslims posed no threat to travellers.
“Muslims are largely well integrated in society, are not disillusioned and they face little discrimination like in Europe and elsewhere,” he said.
“These advisories should be seen as part of an attempt [by the UK and the US] to push South Africa towards adopting their stance on counterterror.”
He said the abduction of the Cape Town couple bore no hallmarks of an IS attack and seemed more related to crime.
The counterterror fraternity suspected that they were working as members of an active cell, and the kidnapping will confirm the presence of an active IS cell
Martin Ewi Institute for Security Studies researcher