It was a R700,000 spending spree by alleged Islamic State loyalists Fatima Patel and Sayfydeen Aslam Del Vecchio that alerted police to the disappearance of an elderly Cape Town couple and a clandestine extremist operation in rural KwaZulu-Natal.
The pair are alleged to have used the credit cards of the couple, who they are accused of kidnapping. In the course of a few days they hopped from mall to mall along the North Coast, amassing jewellery, camping gear and electronic devices. The cache of goods was discovered in a remote hideaway on the fringes of a secluded nature reserve near Eshowe.
It was there, on a hilltop, with an IS flag flying, that Patel and Del Vecchio were arrested.
The couple, British nationals who have lived in South Africa for about 30 years, were holidaying in northern KwaZulu-Natal when they were abducted. The Sunday Times is not identifying them to protect them.
How they might have crossed paths with Patel and Del Vecchio remains a mystery.
As the search for the couple in the expansive bushy region entered its second week, hope was fading that they would be found alive. Police found their bloodied car 300km from where they were last seen on February 9.He said that while the existence of terrorists in South Africa was confirmed by local intelligence organisations, the level of their presence and activity was under debate.
South Africa was regarded as a logistics base for terror cells in transit, and not traditionally a target for attacks.
Ebrahim Deen, a researcher at the Afro-Middle East Centre, downplayed the issuing of the travel advisory, saying that South African Muslims posed no threat to travellers.
"Muslims are largely well integrated in society, are not disillusioned and they face little discrimination like in Europe and elsewhere," he said.
"These advisories should be seen as part of an attempt [by the UK and the US] to push South Africa towards adopting their stance on counterterror."
He said the abduction of the Cape Town couple bore no hallmarks of an IS attack and seemed more related to crime.
TIMELINE
February 5The elderly couple leave their home in Cape Town.
February 8They arrive at the secluded Bivane Dam nature reserve in Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal. They spend a single night at the Soetdoring campsite and leave the reserve in a hurry.
February 12The Hawks and counterterror operatives establish that two suspects on their watch list, Fatima Patel and Sayfydeen Aslam Del Vecchio, had control of the missing couple’s credit cards. A hostage negotiator reaches out to one of their longtime employees.
wicksj@sundaytimes.co.za..