Two suspects, who were arrested during a raid last weekend in Azaadville in Johannesburg, have been released on R5000 bail each. This was confirmed by their lawyer Yousha Tayob, who on Thursday brought and urgent application before the Johannesburg high court to have his clients released pending trial.

“We managed to approach the high court yesterday at around 12pm and received a high court order releasing my clients on bail, then got into the administrative process of physically getting them from prison,” explained Tayob.

Ebrahim and Fatima Patel, from Gauteng, have been charged with the illegal possession of unlicensed ammunition and explosives. The Patel’s were arrested along with the Thulsie twins who have been arrested on suspected terrorism links, but the Patel’s lawyer says that his clients have no relation to the Thulsie’s and do not know who they are.

Tayob says that process of getting his clients out of prison was long and drawn out as the prison where Ebrahim Patel was being held was allegedly under shut down from 2pm yesterday. Fatima Patel was subsequently released last night from prison at around 5.40pm and Ebrahim was released on Thursday morning at around 11am.

“The Patel’s had to surrender all the passports and travel documents and are required to report to the Kagiso Police station twice a week, furthermore the siblings are not permitted to leave the Gauteng region,” said Tayob when asked about his clients bail conditions.

The siblings are due to appear in court again on Monday, July 18th at the Kagiso court. VOC (Umarah Hartley)