UK govt warns of terror threat in SA following kidnapping, arrests in KZN

CAPE TOWN — The British government has warned its citizens that there is a terror threat from extremists linked to the Islamic State (ISIS) group in South Africa.

This after a couple were apparently kidnapped in KwaZulu-Natal earlier this month in a case allegedly linked to terrorism.

The UK government’s website, under foreign travel advice relating to SA, updated its “terrorism section” on Monday. This update was still deemed relevant yesterday.

“Updated information on the terrorist threat from

KANO — A Boko Haram attack on a girls school in northeast Nigeria has revived fears of another Chibokstyle mass kidnapping, even as the government claims the jihadists are on the verge of defeat.

Dozens of heavily armed fighters stormed Dapchi village in the Bursari area of Yobe state on Monday evening, firing shots and setting off explosives.

Students and teachers at the Girls Science Secondary School fled into the bush for safety, fearing the Islamist militants would abduct them.

The potential for a repeat of what happened some 275km away by road in Chibok, in neighbouring Borno state, has not been lost on many Nigerians.

Both were state-run boarding schools in rural areas teaching girls of a similar age a so-called secular curriculum; Boko Haram fighters came in a convoy of pick-up trucks at night.

Boko Haram, whose name translates from Hausa to “Western education is forbidden”, has kidnapped thousands of women and young girls since beginning its bloody insurgency in 2009.

But it was only the mass abduction of 276 girls in extremists linked to Daesh… there’s an increasing threat of kidnap throughout South Africa; kidnaps can be for financial gain or motivated by criminality; British nationals can be perceived as being wealthier than locals and may be at particular risk of kidnap for financial gain,” it says. Daesh is another name for ISIS. A couple, with both South African and British citizenship, were apparently kidnapped at or near the near Bivane Dam in Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal, on February 12.

The identities of the two have not been made public.

On Tuesday, the Hawks announced that its Crimes Against the State Unit — along with other authorities, including the Durban police’s Crime Intelligence division — had identified two suspects in the kidnapping case on February 16.

They two — Sayfydeen Aslam Del Vecchio (38) and Fatima Patel (27) were then arrested in connection with the case.

Charges against them include kidnapping, or robbery, as well as the possible contravention of the Protection Constitutional Democracy against Terrorists and Other Related Activities Act. — AFP