Dutch to Join Hunt for Teen

The Netherlands will send three F-16 warplanes rigged with search equipment to try to find an Alabama teenager who disappeared in Aruba nearly five weeks ago, Aruban authorities said Saturday.

The three planes, equipped with infrared and sonar-scanning capacity, were expected to arrive this afternoon, Aruban government spokesman Ruben Trapenberg said.

Trapenberg said the planes were being sent after Aruban Justice Minister Rudy Croes requested more help from the Netherlands, the Caribbean island’s former colonizer, in finding Natalee Holloway. The 18-year-old from Mountain Brook, Ala., disappeared May 30, on the last of a five-day graduation trip with 124 classmates.

Last week, Sen. Richard C. Shelby, a Republican from Alabama, and Alabama Gov. Bob Riley wrote letters to Aruban Prime Minister Nelson Oduber urging the government to do more and let the FBI play a larger role in the investigation.

“With every passing day, I become increasingly concerned that the current investigation has reached a dead end,” Shelby wrote. “It’s unfathomable that the Aruban government would not take advantage of the full spectrum of resources, personnel and expertise of the FBI.”

Seven FBI agents have had an observer role on the island since a few days after Holloway disappeared, but they have repeatedly said they did not have jurisdiction to direct the searches or investigation.

Three young men have been detained in the disappearance: Dutch teenager Joran van der Sloot and Surinamese brothers Deepak Kalpoe, 21, and Satish Kalpoe, 18.

Trapenberg said Friday that the three young men had not been formally charged but could be as soon as Monday. Trapenberg has not said what charges could be filed against the three. They were the last ones seen with Holloway the night she disappeared.