ISIS fanatics plundered bank accounts of Brit couple murdered by jihadis in South Africa and used money to buy Bitcoin and fund jihadi training camp
The fiend - known only as Mohammed G - reportedly plundered the bank accounts of murdered holidaymakers Rod Saunders, 74, and wife Rachel, 63
AN ISIS terrorist tried to use cash stolen from two murdered Brits to set up a jihadi training camp, a court has heard.
The fiend - known only as Mohammed G - reportedly plundered the bank accounts of murdered holidaymakers Rod Saunders, 74, and wife Rachel, 63.
Rod was found dead in crocodile-infested water in South Africa last April - while Rachel's body was found nearby in June.
It was later revealed in court that both bodies were thrown into the river after being horrifically murdered.
ISIS were thought to be behind the pair's kidnapping.
A court in Rotterdam, Netherlands, heard how Mohammed had contact with one of the kidnappers - and was ordered to loot and launder their assets.
He reportedly used their stolen credit card details to buy Bitcoin online, which he then spent on Kalashnikov rifles, crossbows and swords.
He also allegedly worked as an IS 'travel agent' who would arrange trips for himself and other people to join ISIS forces in Iraq and Syria.
He was arrested in March when anti-terror cops raided his house in the Southern Dutch city of Maastricht.
Saunders and his wife were abducted by ISIS-linked suspects in the Ngoye Forest Reserve, just 80 miles north of Durban, on February 10.
The Cape Town-based couple, who own the indigenous seed exporting business supplier Silverhill Seeds, have been missing ever since.
The day before their kidnapping, they had just finished filming in the Drakensburg Mountains with award-winning BBC Gardener’s World host Nick Bailey.
Initially police were convinced the couple had been kidnapped and murdered in the forest.
Despite regular, intensive searches with tracker dogs and helicopters and a combined investigation involving the FBI and British police, they were not found.
The arrest of ISIS-linked pair Sayfydeen Aslam Del Vecchio, 38, and his wife Fatima Patel, 27, did serve up some clues but cops still had no idea where the bodies were dumped.
Police finally made a breakthrough in late March when they nabbed Malawian Ahmad Jackson Mussa, also known as Bazooka, in Durban following an intensive five-week manhunt.
He cooperated with investigators and guided their search for the Saunders' bodies to the Tugela River Mouth.
But a search party involving boats and divers failed to find their bodies, which were believed to be submerged, wrapped up in their sleeping bags.
Del Vecchio, Patel, Xulu and Mussa were all charged with the kidnapping, assault and robbery of the couple.
Text messages allegedly indicate the couple were a target for an ISIS-motivated hunt, abduction and killing.
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A damning affidavit also linked Bazooka to Del Vecchio who allegedly messaged to tell him there is an elderly couple in the forest who were a "good hunt" and that they had equipment.
The conversation continued between the accused in a similar manner and later Del Vecchio confirmed that "he has the target", it is claimed.
Hopes dwindled that the Saunders - widely described as gentle and peace loving - would be found alive with the discovery of an alleged Del Vecchio text that read: "When the brothers in Kenya go out and do this work it is very important that the body of the victim is never found and it remains a missing person case."
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