ANT KATZ

JR Online has spoken with the SA police, the Hawks, the National Prosecuting Authority, Jewish security organisations and several other parties who are close to the investigation but not able to speak for their employers and hence cannot be named.

As the story is making headlines around the world today, including European, North and South American news organisations (including venerable titles such as the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times) as well as Asia and Australasia,

RIGHT: A Facebook picture of the twins who planned to bomb Jewish institutions

Startling new facts and information is emerging daily in this fast-moving matter – most particularly in the manner in which the Hawks stumbled upon the twins’ plot while at their home to execute an arrest warrant.

And, while there is much speculation that the two pairs of siblings may have their cases joined, Hawks spokesman Brigadier Hangwani Mulaudzi told JR Online today that there was nothing to suggest at this stage that the Patel siblings were in any way involved in the activities of the Thulsie twins.

JR Online can now report that:

• The Patels and the Thulsie twins were arrested separately, on separate charges on Saturday and their trials will be held in different courts;
• The police did not set out to arrest anyone on Saturday;
• A lucky set of circumstances led to their uncovering a plot they did not know existed before then; 
• The link between the Thulsies and the Patels is that the four had tried to leave SA to join ISIS in Syria together last year – a plan that was thwarted by the Hawks. But the Hawks never stopped watching them;
• The Hawks are not aware of any contact between the Twins and the Patels since then;
• On Saturday the Hawks never went to the Thulsie home intending to arrest the identical twin brothers. They were executing a search warrant at the premises;
• Once the police were inside, they found a lot more than they bargained for – leading them to first arrest the twins and later in the day the Patels;
• The twins had a list of targets which included the US Embassy in Pretoria and ‘certain’ Jewish institutions, the names of which the police have  – but are not releasing at this stage;
• Brandon-Lee and Toni-Lee Thulsie are also known as Yaqeen and Salahuddin ibn Hernani respectively since their conversion to Islam;
• While one police spokesman said that there was no imminent threat as the twins were not yet ready to carry out their rumbustious plans, another told JR Online that police who raided the home on Saturday found a bomb in the process of being assembled. JR has not yet been able to verify this fact;
• One of the Thulsie twins worked at Discovery. He has not been at work for several weeks and Group Chief Executive, Adrian Gore, issued a letter to all staff on Tuesday;

STORY CONTINUES BELOW GORE’S LETTER TO DISCOVERY STAFF…

ABOVE: What group chief executive  Adrian Gore sent all Discovery staff today

The Community Security Organisation (CSO) Gauteng, told Jewish Report that the Jewish community needs to be more vigilant with regard to their own security and the security of their installations. CSO had, in fact, been preparing the community for the reality of terror in SA for some time. CSO continues to work closely with the SA Police and security services to ensure the safety and security of our community, but this needs to be a community effort and everyone must play their part, they say.

To assist both Jewish and national security organisations, JR Online will be running an awareness campaign using the US Department of Homeland Affairs’ slogan: “See something, say something” together with the CSO – see above

The Thulsie brothers were wearing hoodies when they appeared in court on Monday. Photographers were not allowed to take pictures of them. The brothers are believed to have grown substantial beards when seen against their clean-shaven appearance on Facebook.

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Related reads on JR-Online:

July 11: Terror arrest twins were targeting Jews
July 11: The original Hawks media statement PDF
July 12: NPA provisional charge sheet against twins PDF

If you see ANYTHING noteworthy: CSO’s national call centre number is

086-18-000-18

• ISIS stands for Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. This was later changed to ISIL which covered “the Levant” and is an extremist militant group that rules by Wahhabi/Salafi law. In Arabic, the group is also known as Daesh