Joran van der Sloot arrives in US to face extortion and fraud charges

Prime suspect behind Natalee Holloway's disappearance is serving a sentence for a murder in Peru

Peruvian police and Interpol agents hand over Dutch national Joran van der Sloot to the FBI in Peru on June 8. AFP

Joran van der Sloot, the prime suspect in the 2005 disappearance of Alabama woman Natalee Holloway, arrived in the US on Thursday to face charges for trying to extort money from her mother.

Van der Sloot was extradited to the US from Peru, where he has been serving a 28-year sentence for the murder of a Peruvian woman, Stephany Flores.

He is wanted in the US on one count each of extortion and wire fraud — the only charges to have linked the Dutch citizen to the disappearance of Ms Holloway,18, on the Caribbean island of Aruba.

On Thursday, he was flown to the US accompanied by nine members of the FBI, police said.

"He is in perfect health, he is calm," Interpol Peru chief Carlos Lopez, who handed Van der Sloot over to the FBI, told AFP.

Once his trial in the US is over, the Dutchman will be returned to Peru to complete his sentence, Mr Lopez said.

Last month, Peru granted America's request for temporary extradition, which it had previously said would have to wait until the end of Van der Sloot's sentence.

The indictment says Van der Sloot demanded $25,000 from Ms Holloway's parents in exchange for information on their daughter's whereabouts. He fled to Peru when he received the money.

Ms Holloway was on a high school graduation trip with classmates to Aruba when she vanished. She was last seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot in 2005.

Van der Sloot was questioned in her disappearance but never charged.

Her body has never been found.

Agencies contributed to this report