CNN
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[Breaking news update, 12:10 pm. ET]
He was taken to a jail in Birmingham, not far from Holloway’s hometown of Mountain Brook.
He will be arraigned in federal court in Birmingham on Friday at 11 a.m. CT, according to court records.
Van der Sloot was indicted in 2010 on U.S. federal charges of racketeering and wire fraud in connection with a plot to sell information about the whereabouts of Holloway’s remains in exchange for $250,000, he said. an accusation filed in the Northern District of Alabama.
The missing 18-year-old’s mother, Beth Holloway, wired $15,000 to van der Sloot’s bank account in the Netherlands and through a lawyer gave her another $10,000 in person, according to the indictment. Once he had the initial $25,000, van der Sloot showed the lawyer, John Kelly, where Natalee Holloway’s remains were allegedly hidden, but the information turned out to be false, according to the indictment.
Holloway’s remains have never been found, and in 2012, an Alabama judge signed an order declaring her legally dead.
Agents arrived in Peru, where van der Sloot is jailed for the murder of another woman, late Wednesday, a law enforcement source familiar with the operation told CNN.
The FBI used one of its planes in what it calls an overseas custody transfer operation. The team typically consists of two FBI special agent pilots, at least one additional auxiliary crew member, and several agents who provide security for the prisoner. On many long-haul flights, a doctor also accompanies the team.
Inmates are guarded and wear restraints at all times. The flight from Lima to Birmingham in the Gulfstream 550 took about six and a half hours.
Van der Sloot was seen leaving the Ancón 1 prison in Lima in the early hours of Thursday, being driven away in a black van while in police custody. He arrived at the Peru Air Base Group, where officials have said he is expected to be turned over to the FBI.
Peru initially agreed to extradite van der Sloot to the United States to face those charges only after he served his murder sentence. But last month, the country reversed course and agreed to temporarily transfer him to face US charges, after which he would be returned to Peru, the country’s judiciary said.
Peru agreed to the “temporary relocation of van der Sloot to the United States, because he is convicted here and has to serve his sentence here,” Justice Minister Daniel Maurate said. “But because the United States needs him to face trial, and the authorities told us that if he didn’t come sooner, the case against him could be dismissed because the witnesses are great.”
On Wednesday, the superior court in Lima, Peru, ordered van der Sloot to be handed over to FBI agents, according to a statement posted on social media on Tuesday.
“With this resolution, the judge has completed the procedures for the transfer (passive extradition) of Joran Van Der Sloot, who will be prosecuted in the United States of America for the alleged crimes of extortion and fraud against Elizabeth Ann Holloway,” the statement concludes . .
The announcement comes a day after a lawyer for Van der Sloot filed a habeas corpus petition against his client’s temporary transfer from a prison in Peru to the United States. Maximo Altez, a lawyer for van der Sloot, argued that his transfer should be stopped because he had not been officially notified, according to June 5 court documents.
The petition appears to contradict previous statements by Altez. On May 30, he told CNN en Español that his client had agreed to be transferred and that he was not expected to file a petition for habeas corpus. “I want to go to the United States,” van der Sloot told Altez in a letter.
CNN has reached out to Altez for further comment.
Van der Sloot has been held in Peru’s Ancón 1 prison after he was convicted in 2012 of murdering 21-year-old Stephany Flores in her Lima hotel room. He was sentenced to 28 years in prison.
Holloway was last seen alive with van der Sloot and two other men leaving a nightclub in Aruba 18 years ago.
Aruban police arrested and released the three men, van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe, several times in 2005 and 2007 in connection with Holloway’s disappearance. The men’s lawyers maintained their innocence throughout the investigation.
In December 2007, the Aruban Prosecutor’s Office said none of the three would be charged and dropped the cases against them, citing insufficient evidence.
