Three more arrested in teen’s disappearance

updated 8:46 a.m. ET June 10, 2005

ORANJESTAD, Aruba - Aruba’s prime minister said Thursday that finding a missing Alabama teenager was the country’s “No. 1 goal,” and police arrested three young men who acknowledged giving her a ride the night she disappeared.

Prime Minister Nelson Oduber said his government was working closely with U.S. authorities to solve the case of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway, who dropped from sight more than a week ago.

Oduber said Holloway’s disappearance had left the island nation “in a state of shock and disbelief.”

“The hearts of the people of Aruba are touched by Natalee and her family,” he said at a news conference. “Resolving this is Aruba’s No. 1 goal.”

Those arrested Thursday were two brothers from Suriname and a 17-year-old Dutch student who is the son of a high-ranking Dutch justice official.

The two brothers are identified as Satish and Deepak Kaploe of Suriname. The student is identified as Joran Andreas Petrus Van Der Sloot, a student at Aruba International School.

Van Der Sloot left his home in the middle-class Montana neighborhood of Oranjestad on Thursday with his head covered in a blue-and-green striped towel. He is said to have lived on the island for more than 10 years.

‘Hope is still alive’
The prime minister, who said he had met with Holloway’s relatives, pledged that police would not exclude anyone from their investigation.

“On this island nobody stands above the law,” he said, stressing that “hope is still alive” that Holloway will be found unharmed.

The 17-year-old met Holloway at a casino in her hotel, the Holiday Inn, two nights before she disappeared on May 30, Aruban Police Cmdr. Jahn van der Straaten told reporters.

In Mountain Brook, Ala., Holloway’s hometown, some of the 123 teenagers who went to Aruba with her on a graduation trip were quoted as saying the Dutch teenager was at several places the group visited, including the restaurant-bar where the honors student was last seen.

Third man recognized
Marcia Twitty, Holloway’s aunt, said the Alabama students recognized the Dutch teenager from photos shown them by FBI agents. “They had seen him around during the trip. He was just a local guy in the bar and the casino where all the kids were just kind of hanging out,” she said.

Attorney General Caren Janssen said the three men were arrested about 6 a.m. but refused to name them or say on what grounds they were being held. Authorities previously described them as students — two Surinamese brothers and the son of a Dutch justice official studying to be a judge.

“The three people have been arrested as suspects,” chief government spokesman Ruben Trapenberg told The Associated Press. Police also impounded a gray Honda; Holloway’s friends reported last seeing her leave in a silver car.

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