Isis suspect in couple's disappearance leads cops to croc-infested Tugela River

Hopes of finding missing couple Rod and Rachel Saunders alive have all but slipped away with police charging a man linked to their disappearance with two counts of murder.

Ahmad Jackson Mussa‚ 36‚ who carries the ominous moniker “Bazooka”‚ appeared in the Verulam Magistrate’s court on Monday.

He was arrested in a raid by Hawks counter-terror operatives at a hideway in Newlands‚ outside Durban.

Mussa‚ along with alleged Isis acolytes Sayfudeen Aslam del Vecchio‚ Fatima Patel and their teenage neighbour Themba Xulu‚ is accused of engineering the disappearance of the Cape Town-based British botanists in February.

Startling allegations that the vanished couple may have been stalked as a “good hunt” by Del Vecchio and Patel‚ apparently to "strike fear into the hearts of those opposed" to Isis‚ have already been placed before the Verulam Magistrate’s court.

Magistrate Vallaraman Kathuravaloo dressed down the Malawian national‚ who has yet to secure legal representation.

The court heard that Mussa had an expired passport which was already seized by police‚ and that his asylum papers had been lost.

Kathuravaloo instructed the legal aid board to make a determination as to whether they can represent foreign nationals. “Ask him which national park he came through‚” Kathuravaloo said tersely.

Furthermore‚ he instructed the board to contact the Malawi embassy to enquire further about his immigration status.

“Maybe he is a member of the Malawian Secret Service and they will appoint a QC from London to represent him. Maybe they (the embassy) will inform you that he is a fugitive from justice in his own country. It is our duty to inform them that their national is here‚” the magistrate said.

Mussa was remanded in custody and will appear again alongside his co-accused on April 12.

In a statement already before the court‚ investigating officer Anuresh AJ Lutchman submitted that Mussa’s passport had been found at Del Vecchio and Patel’s home. “A preliminary analysis of digital devices found in Del Vecchio’s possession indicates Bazooka’s involvement in the commission of the crime‚” the statement reads.

Sources close to the investigation told TimesLive that Mussa had been cooperative‚ leading investigators to the Tugela River where the bodies of Rod and Rachel Saunders are alleged to have been dumped.

It is understood that they had been placed in sleeping bags and thrown into the water.

Police Search and Rescue Unit officers have been dispatched to the area to search for the couple since Friday‚ with their effort hampered by the presence of crocodiles and later heavy rains.