Police searching for British couple feared kidnapped and murdered by ISIS find man’s body in crocodile-infested river

Botanist Rod Saunders and his wife Rachel have not been seen for nearly 10 weeks after vanishing on a seed-gathering mission in South Africa.

Police searching for a British couple feared kidnapped and murdered by ISIS say a body found in crocodile-infested waters could be the missing husband.

Botanist Rod Saunders and his wife Rachel have not been seen for nearly 10 weeks after vanishing on a seed-gathering mission in South Africa.

Four suspected ISIS supporters have been arrested, with one reportedly claiming they had been killed and their bodies dumped in a river.

Rod, 73, and Rachel, 64, had been filmed days earlier for an episode of BBC show Gardener’s World.

Presenter Nick Bailey, who was with the couple in the Drakensberg mountains, tweeted a picture of them praising their botany skills four days before their disappearance on February 12.

One of the suspects is claimed to have told investigators from the South African Police’s elite unit The Hawks that Rod and Rachel had been wrapped in their sleeping bodies and thrown into the River Tugela.

Police searched the area, but have yet to find their remains.

However a body of a decomposed white man with his foot missing was found by a fisherman, and it is now being linked to the investigation.

Although it was found on February 28, the connection has only just been made, as the body remained unclaimed.

DNA samples have been taken to discover if it is Mr Saunders.

Hawks spokesman Captain Lloyd Ramovha said: “No conclusive findings have been made yet but we can confirm DNA samples have been taken from a body found in the river and sent to Pretoria for analysis.

“This is to establish if the body is linked to the Saunders kidnap case. The search continues and we are seeking answers.

“Investigators are also visiting all the morgues in the search area to see if there are any other unidentified bodies that fit the time frame and other DNA samples have been recovered and sent for testing” he said.

Rod and Rachel, who have lived in South Africa since the 1970s, vanished while collecting seeds of rare flowers in the mountains and forests of Kwa-Zulu Natal for their company Silverhill Seeds in Cape Town which export them all over the world.

The couple’s 4 x 4 white Land Cruiser was found 150 miles from Durban with bloodstains in the boot which turned out to be from fellow botanist Rachel.

A couple with links to ISIS were arrested soon after, and are said to have been on a £40,000 spending spree with the Saunders credit cards.

Large amounts of cash was also withdrawn from ATM machines.

Accused Sayfydeen Aslam Del Vecchio, 38, and his wife Fatima Patel, 27, were already on a suspected terrorist warning list and ISIS material was found in their home along with evidence linking them to the crime.

They have appeared before magistrates charged with kidnapping, assault and robbery of the couple as well as charges under the Terrorism and Related Activities Act and have been remanded in custody.

A bail hearing heard that text messages from the couple revealed they had targeted the Saunders as part of a terrorist plot to “kill the kuffar (non believers) and abduct their allies, to destroy infrastructure and to put fear in the heart of the kuffar”.

A third person was later arrested who was found to be in possession of the Saunders mobile phones, but the breakthrough came with the arrest of on-the-run Ahmad Jackson Mussa, who was known as “bazooka”.

The Malawian’s passport was found at the home of Del Vecchio and Patel sparking a five week manhunt to find him in South Africa and when he was caught he is said to have confessed to dumping their bodies in a river.

South African media said police sources took them to a place on the River Tugela where he threw them in.

The river is infested with Nile crocodiles which can grow up to over 12 feet in length and had made it difficult for police divers to search the floodwaters during a week long operation in which they found nothing.

Source: Mirror