Isis-linked suspect moved to C-Max

ONE OF the suspected Islamic State- linked kidnappers of Rod and Rachel Saunders was moved to South Africa’s only super-maximum security prison this week as the search for the Cape Town-based British botanists, now in its 35th day, continues to frustrate police.

On Tuesday and Wednesday a police search party combed Ngoye Forest Reserve with park rangers again. But, like all previous searches of the area, near Mtunzini just 130km north of Durban, it yielded no clues about where the couple might have been murdered or where their bodies could be buried.

Meanwhile, Sayfydeen Aslam Del Vecchio, 38, arrested on February 10 with his wife Fatima Patel, 27, on Isis-linked terrorism charges as well as the kidnapping, assault and robbery of the Saunders couple was quietly moved this week from Durban’s medium- security Westville Correctional Centre to Kokstad’s Ebongweni C-Max Prison.

Although Correctional Services remained tight- lipped about the transfer, a source close to the kidnap and suspected murder investigation said Del Vecchio had been moved because of discipline issues.

The source also said the search for the Saunderses has been hampered by Del Vecchio not clarifying his encrypted text messages to Patel and Malawian Ahmad Jackson Mussa – wanted and on the run from police – that identified the British couple as the target of their plot to “kill the kuffar and abduct their allies to destroy infrastructure and to put fear in the heart of the kuffar.”

Kuffar is a derogatory Arabic term referring to non-Muslims.

Investigators speculate the couple were being held by Mussa and they had probably been murdered once Del Vecchio and Patel confirmed Rachel had given them the correct ATM pin number for a bank card.

Police believe that Mussa’s arrest will lead them to the Saunderses, whose bodies are thought to have been disposed of in Ngoye or cane fields southwards towards Verulam, where their Landcruiser was found abandoned on February 18 with blood in the luggage compartment.

Following investigations in the Ngoye area, police could find no witnesses who saw the Landcruiser leave the forest or return to Del Vecchio’s home.

Their suspicions are that Del Vecchio’s extensive knowledge of the area aided its country road journey to Verulam.

“He knew the back roads like the back of his hand,” said the source, who said the Isis suspect was well-known to Huletts security staff.

“You cannot believe his network of hideouts which he reached on his quad bike using back roads and bush paths.”

Patel, Del Vecchio and a third suspect, Thembamandla Xulu, 19 appeared last week in the Verulam Magistrate’s Court for a bail application hearing. They were remanded and are due to appear again on Thursday.

Police have appealed to Malawians in South Africa to assist them in tracing Mussa.

“We’ve used a lot of resources on this case. We have thrown everything at it. But it’s a challenging investigation. We need him now. He’s the breakthrough in this case. He got the answers we need.”

Tip- offs can be provided anonymously on 086010111, by SMS to crime line 32211 or Colonel Flynn on 0798866792.

Rod and Rachel Saunders