Third arrest after kidnapping of British couple

Victims, said to be working with the BBC, vanished near a popular holiday spot in South Africa

A THIRD arrest has been made in connection with the kidnapping of a British couple who went missing two weeks ago near a popular holiday spot in the southern Kwazulu-natal province of South Africa. Rodney Saunders, 73, and his wife, Rachel, 64, who live in Cape Town and have dual British and South African citizenship, were kidnapped on Feb 12 near the Bivane dam in the small town of Vryheid.

The couple, who are keen horticulturalists, are believed to have been collecting seeds in the area alongside the BBC programme Gardeners’ World.

Police yesterday confirmed that a 23-year-old man had been arrested, alongside Sayfydeen Aslam Del Vecchio, 38, and Fatima Patel, 27, who were arrested on Feb 16.

Captain Lloyd Ramovha, a spokesman for the Hawks, the special police force investigating the kidnapping, confirmed the latest arrest.

He said that “investigations pointed” to the man having worked with Del Vecchio and Patel.

He is being charged with possession of suspected stolen property and kidnapping. “More arrests are expected to be made,” Mr Ramovha added.

Patel and Del Vecchio are understood to have been under surveillance by counter terrorism agents and were allegedly found in possession of Isil recruiting material.

Mr Saunders moved to South Africa in the Seventies with his South African-born wife. Their vehicle, found in northern Durban, is undergoing forensic investigation.

It was reported in the local paper, The Sunday Times, that Patel and Del Vecchio alerted police to the disappearance of the couple by using their credit cards. According to the paper, the accused bought jewellery, camping gear and electronic devices that were apparently discovered in a remote hideaway near Eshowe, where Patel and Del Vecchio were arrested.

It is believed that around £20,000 had been withdrawn from the couple’s account since they vanished.

Patel was on bail after being arrested during anti-terrorism raids in July 2016 on charges of possessing unlicensed ammunition and explosives.

Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi, of the Hawks, said that Patel and her partner had been on their radar for a long time. The British Foreign Office updated its travel advisory this week, which cautioned travellers about ongoing terror threats from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) in South Africa.

A spokesman for the British High Commission in Pretoria said that the information was part of existing advice.

The BBC declined to comment on whether the couple had been working alongside a team from the Gardeners’ World programme.