Body found in crocodile-infested water as police hunt Brit couple feared kidnapped by ISIS in South Africa

Police searching for a British couple feared kidnapped in South Africa in an Islamic State plot are examining a body found in a crocodile infested river.

Officers believe the male corpse may be that of missing botanist Rod Saunders, 73, who vanished with his wife Rachel, 64, nearly 10 weeks ago while on a seed gathering mission in the Drakensberg mountains.

Four people with links to IS fanatics have been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping and possibly killing the couple. One alleged gang member is said to have told the South African Police Service’s elite unit The Hawks that he wrapped their bodies in their sleeping bags and dumped them in the river Tugela.

However, a week-long search effort has been hampered by flood waters and crocodiles up to 12 feet long.

On February 28, a fisherman found the badly decomposed body of a white man near the river mouth. The body was taken to a mortuary where it remained unclaimed because local police did not link it to the hunt for the couple who were last heard of on February 12. DNA samples have been taken and a search ordered of every mortuary to check for unclaimed bodies.

The British-South African couple, who moved to Cape Town in the Seventies, were filming with BBC TV Gardeners’ World presenter Nick Bailey in the Drakensberg mountains shortly before they went missing.

Fears for their safety grew after their white Toyota Land Cruiser was found 150 miles from Durban with bloodstains in the boot which turned out to be from Rachel Saunders.

A couple with links to IS were arrested on suspicion of spending £40,000 with the Saunders’ credit cards. Sayfydeen Aslam Del Vecchio, 38, and his wife Fatima Patel, 27, who were on a terror watchlist, have been charged with kidnapping, assault and robbery. Two other people have been arrested.

A bail hearing heard that text messages revealed they 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 Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “We are working closely with the South African authorities following the kidnap of two dual nationals.”