EXCLUSIVE: A high-ranking law enforcement official in Peru is dismissing claims that Dutch authorities tried to hamper attempts to bring Natalee Holloway suspect and Dutch national Joran van der Sloot to the U.S. to face federal charges.
“The Dutch authorities have collaborated with us, that’s why they made an emergency passport,” Col. Carlos López Aeda, the chief of Interpol in Lima, Peru, told Fox News Digital on Friday.
However, he said, van der Sloot refused to receive or sign the passport, forcing immigration authorities to come up with an alternative and issue the convicted killer official exit documents.
“Everyone who leaves or enters has to follow the rules and procedures established by the immigration authorities,” López Aeda explained. “The Embassy of the Netherlands did not interpose any obstacle or advise the defense at all, they only limited themselves to providing him with the passport that he rejected because he did not want to sign anything.”
NATALEE HOLLOWAY SUSPECT JORAN VAN DER SLOOT ARRIVES IN US TO FACE EXTORTION, WIRE FRAUD CHARGES
Natalee Hollway, center, went missing during a spring break trip in 2005 and was never found. (FBI)
“The Netherlands cannot interfere in the local legal process of another country,” the spokesperson said. “We provide consular assistance, including visits, to all Dutch nationals in foreign detention who wish to do so.”
Van der Sloot made his first appearance in federal courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama, earlier Friday, pleading not guilty to extortion and wire fraud charges in an alleged plot to sell fake information about Natalee Holloway’s remains to her mother, Beth Holloway.
Friends and family of Natalie Holloway exit the federal courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama on Friday. (Dana Mixer for Fox News Digital )
Van der Sloot is being held without bail as he awaits trial.
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Altez, his lawyer in Peru, previously told Fox News Digital that van der Sloot expected to find better conditions in U.S. custody than he faced in the notorious Challapalca prison, located 12,000 feet above sea level and where temperatures drop below freezing every night.