Hunt for UK couple’s bodies in Tugela after IS arrest

POLICE divers are searching the shark-infested Tugela River mouth for the bodies of Rod and Rachel Saunders following the arrest of another Islamic State (IS) suspect on Thursday.

After an intensive five-week manhunt for Malawian Ahmad Jackson Mussa, aka Bazooka, the Hawks finally made a breakthrough late this week when they arrested the IS suspect in Durban North.

“He co-operated with investigators and guided their search for the missing couple to the river mouth,” said a source close to the investigation. “We’re looking for bodies and expect another breakthrough soon.”

A search party with boats and divers is looking for their bodies, believed to be submerged and wrapped in sleeping bags. Tracker dogs are sniffing the river bank for clues. Although recent rains and the presence of crocodiles will hamper the search, police are confident that they will recover the remains of the couple who have been missing since February 10. They were last seen in the Ngoye forest reserve near Mtunzini, 130km north of Durban.

The search is being monitored by members of the FBI and Scotland Yard, said a source on the ground.

Bazooka became a highly wanted man after police found his passport on February 15 in the home of IS suspects Sayfydeen Aslam del Vecchio, 38, and his wife, Fatima Patel, 27, who have since appeared twice in the Verulam Magistrate’s Court, charged with the kidnap, assault and robbery of the Saunders couple.

The pair, who were on a terror watch list before the kidnapping, also face charges under the Terrorism and Related Activities Act.

“Our border posts were on high alert from February 15,” said the source. “The Hawks were confident that Bazooka had not tried to slip out of South Africa. They were also confident it was only a matter of time before they tracked him down.”

Considered a high-risk detainee, Del Vecchio is being held in an underground cell at Kokstad’s Ebongweni C-max Prison.

In his recent bail application hearing with Patel, police submitted a chilling affidavit that revealed the Saunders couple were the target of an Is-linked 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.

The damning affidavit also links Bazooka to Del Vecchio, who messaged him that “there is an elderly couple in the forest”, that it is a “good hunt” and that they had equipment. Another Del Vecchio text read: “When the brothers in Kenya do this work it is important that the body is never found and it remains a missing persons case.”