And so the plot thickens.

After news leaked that a pair of ISIS affiliates had abducted a Cape Town couple, people were shook.

Even the UK government took action, on Monday updating its online travel advisory for South Africa:

“Terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks in South Africa. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreigners such as shopping areas in major cities,” it read.

While the rest of us were left a little in the dark, wondering just what it was that happened, a team of international and local anti-terrorism cops, as well as hostage negotiators, have been desperately piecing together in an effort to figure out just what it was that went down.

Here’s Times LIVE:

The couple left their last trace at a secluded bush lodge in the rolling hills of Zululand in northern KwaZulu-Natal.

It was in the dry heat of the valley that police believe they were taken and held against their will. The couple have not yet been found.

What befell the couple from the time their 4X4 made the arduous climb on a gravel road out of the valley is unknown.

Their car, a key piece of evidence in the police search, was found in Waterloo, north of Durban, on Sunday night.

The car:

Several days after the couple vanished, the Hawks counter-terror operatives swooped on the ISIS-linked duo:

The suspects, Sayfydeen Aslam Del Vecchio, 38, and Fatima Patel, 27, remain at the centre of the high-level probe. The two, who appeared in the Vryheid Magistrate’s Court on Monday, face charges related to terrorism, abduction and possibly murder.

But how did their paths cross? The police are still trying to figure that out. No ransom demands have been made, and police are still unsure whether the couple are alive or dead.

But here’s what we do know about the botanists – yes, the couple had travelled to the Free State and KZN to collect seeds:

Neighbours said the former Britons were “constantly travelling” and rarely at home. They appeared to be prosperous, said one, adding that they always bought their new vehicles for cash.

They were “very private” and did not have children, “only cats”.

Keith Kirsten, South Africa’s gardening guy, knew the couple:

Well-known horticulturalist and TV personality Keith Kirsten said the couple had been travelling with a BBC film crew immediately prior to their disappearance while camping in the Ithala district outside Pietermaritzburg.

“They simply disappeared into thin air,” said Kirsten, who is also the vice-chairman of the Kirstenbosch section of the Botanical Society, of which the couple were members.

“Their friends and family are distraught. They are helleva nice people.”

Hawks spokesperson Captain Lloyd Ramovha said that owing to the “ongoing investigations and the sensitive nature of the probe”, they were unable to offer comment on details specific to the case.

So, for now, it seems we will continue to be left in the dark about who the couple is.

[source:timeslive]