Dutch IT expert may have hid on a cargo ship

Arjen KamphuisArjen Kamphuis.Photo: Dennis van Zuijlekom / NTB scanpix

Arjen Kamphuis (46) disappeared unexpectantly from Nordland on August 20th. The police are investigating whether he could have hidden on a cargo ship sailing from Rognan at the same time.

At the same time as the Dutch security expert Arjen Kamphuis, a who mong others things is affiliated with WikiLeaks, disappeared from Nordland, a cargo ship from the cable factory Nexans in the town of Rognan left with a course for Stavanger, writes the Dutch newspaper AD – Algemeen Dagblad.

Ten days later, in the evening of August 30, the missing person’s mobile phone was registered  by a base station in the town of Vikeså in Bjerkreim in Rogaland. Now, several people believe Kamphuis may have hidden in the cargo ship, amongst them an employee of the cable factory Nexans in Rognan.

“This is one of the tips we are checking  out, just like many others,” said police inspector Bjarte Walla to the newspaper.

A customer
“It is not our ship, but a ship hired by a customer of us. As far as I am aware, no special observations were made, nor were there any incidents reported whilst the ship was docked at Rognan. I have been informed that there was no other sailings from Rognan during this period, Communications Director Trude Larstad in Nexans told NTB

After the Dutch IT expert on safety and privacy disappeared, several of his belongings were found in Saltdalsfjord between Rognan and Fauske.

The last secure observation of him was when he checked out of his hotel in Bodø on August 20th. It is believed that he was meant to move on to Fauske or Rognan before traveling to Trondheim on August 22 and fly back to the Netherlands. However, he never checked in on the plane.

Coast Guard search closed
Tuesday last week, a recreational fisherman found a canoe police suspect may have belonged to the Dutchman, and this weekend, the Coast Guard has been searching in the same area. On Monday, the police in Nordland informed that further searches were not planned.

– A private person has found a paddle oar that may have belonged to missing Kamphuis. The police have reason to believe that the oar belonged to Kamphuis because it is found in the same area as the kayak and is of the same brand as an oar missing. The oar was handed in to the police this weekend, and the police is continuing investigations around this discovery, Walla said in a press release Monday.

So far, the police have received over 100 tips, but the police are striving to verify them.

“The tips we have received regarding this matter are mainly observations. There are so far no tips that have led to any verified observations of Kamphuis after August 20, the police writes.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today