BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Joran van der Sloot will be handed over to Interpol “in the next few days” before his upcoming transfer to the United States, according to Peru’s federal prison agency.
The Dutch national is the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway in Aruba during a Mountain Brook High School, Alabama, senior trip.
Van der Sloot is currently being held in a Peruvian prison for the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores in 2010. He was originally sentenced to 28 years in prison for the killing, but more time was added on because of a drug smuggling scandal he was involved in while in jail.
He’s facing charges of wire fraud and extortion in the United States after allegedly trying to sell Beth Holloway, Natalee’s mother, information on where her daughter’s body was located. The Peruvian government ruled earlier in May that he would be temporarily transferred to face trial in the U.S.
Joran Van der Sloot (C) of the Netherlands is escorted by Peruvian police officers at the police headquarters in Lima June 5, 2010. Chile on Friday deported to Peru Van der Sloot who is wanted for the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores in Lima and has been linked to the 2005 disappearance of an American teenage girl in Aruba. (Reuters/Pilar Olivares )
Federal prosecutors say van der Sloot asked for $250,000 — $25,000 up front for the information and the rest being paid out when the body of Natalee Holloway was positively identified.
Van der Sloot lied about Natalee Holloway’s whereabouts, prosecutors said.
The National Penitentiary Institute, Peru’s prison agency, said in a Saturday statement that the transfer of Van der Sloot to a Lima prison has begun. Van der Sloot will be temporarily housed in the Lima prison until FBI agents pick him up.
Interpol will conduct the final handover of Van der Sloot to the FBI, according to the statement.
Joran Van der Sloot of the Netherlands (C) is transferred by the police from the police headquarters to the prosecutor’s office in Lima June 10, 2010. An official at the Peruvian national police’s criminal investigations unit told Reuters on Tuesday that Van der Sloot admitted he killed 21-year-old Stephany Flores, whose body was found in a Lima hotel room last week. (Reuters/Stringer )
Joran Van der Sloot (L) is escorted by police officers to the airport in Santiago June 4, 2010. Van der Sloot of the Netherlands, who was arrested twice over the disappearance of a U.S. student in Aruba in 2005, has been expelled from Chile and will be handed out to Peruvian authorities where he is a prime suspect in a new murder probe, according to local media reports. (Reuters/Victor Ruiz Caballero)
“In the next few days, INPE will proceed to hand over the convicted person to the INTERPOL PERU NCB, in order to deliver it to the US authorities of the Federal Bureau of Investigation – FBI,” Peru’s prison agency said.
Col. Carlos López Aeda, the chief of Interpol in Lima, Peru told Fox News Digital on Friday evening that officials in Peru began taking Van der Sloot from Challapalca Prison to a maximum security prison in Lima late Friday night.
“[Van der Sloot] will leave [Challapalca] tonight and on Sunday morning he will be in Lima, ready for the transfer,” López Aeda said.
Van der Sloot was being housed at Challapalca Prison, which is almost a day’s drive away from Lima.
Joran Van der Sloot (L) is escorted by police officers on an airplane in Santiago June 4, 2010. Van der Sloot, who was arrested twice over the disappearance of a U.S. student in Aruba in 2005, has been expelled from Chile and will be handed out to Peruvian authorities where he is a prime suspect in a new murder probe, according to local media reports. (Reuters/Danny Alveal)
Before van der Sloot is transferred to the U.S., he’ll undergo several medical tests, López Aeda previously told Fox News Digital.
“We are going to carry out the medical procedures to certify Joran’s good health, the COVID tests that even the staff who are going to transfer him have to do, those of us who are going to participate in the security convoy and guarantee that all his rights are respected so that everything is carried out in the fastest and most efficient way unless the defense presents some appeal which we highly doubt it,” López Aeda said.
Natalee Holloway was last seen alive in Aruba while on a Mountain Brook high school senior trip. (Federal Bureau of Investigation)
Natalee Holloway’s body has never been found. In January 2012, van der Sloot pleaded guilty to killing Flores, and Natalee Holloway was legally declared dead that month.
Natalee Holloway’s mother, Beth, said in an earlier statement shared with Fox News Digital that the transfer gives a chance for justice to finally be served.
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Beth Holloway, mother of Natalee Holloway, speaks during the opening of the Natalee Holloway Resource Center (NHRC) at the National Museum of Crime & Punishment in Washington, June 8, 2010. Natalee, 18, of Mountain Brook, Alabama, vanished while on a high school graduation trip to Dutch-owned Aruba, an island in the Caribbean in 2005. She never showed up for a flight home and her disappearance made international headlines. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
“I was blessed to have had Natalee in my life for 18 years, and as of this month, I have been without her for exactly 18 years. She would be 36 years old now,” Beth Holloway said. “It has been a very long and painful journey, but the persistence of many is going to pay off. Together, we are finally getting justice for Natalee,” Beth Holloway said.
Fox News’ Armando Regil Valasco contributed to this report.
