(CNN) — US federal agents are en route to Peru for the temporary transfer proceedings of Joran van der Sloot, two law enforcement sources familiar with the operation told CNN.
An FBI foreign transfer of custody team departed on Wednesday aboard a government plane bound for Lima, the sources said. Van der Sloot is the prime suspect in the .
Barring any last minute legal proceedings, van der Sloot is expected to be transferred to US federal custody on Thursday in Lima, and then sent to Alabama, one of the sources said.
The development comes after of van der Sloot, who is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence in Peru for the 2012 murder of Stephany Flores, 21, in his Lima hotel room. He is currently being held at the Ancón 1 prison in Peru.
An attorney for van der Sloot argued Monday his transfer to the US should be stopped, but the Lima superior court ordered him to be handed over to FBI agents on Thursday, .
In the United States, he’s been indicted on federal charges of extortion and wire fraud from Holloway’s mother by offering bogus information about her daughter’s disappearance.
Peru initially agreed to extradite van der Sloot to the US to face those charges only after he serves his murder sentence. But last month, and agreed to temporarily extradite him to the US to face the extortion and wire fraud charges, after which he would be returned to Peru, the country’s judiciary said.
Peru agreed to van der Sloot’s “temporary relocation to the United States, because he is condemned here and he must serve his sentence here,†Justice Minister Daniel Maurate said. “But since the US needs him in order to face trial, and the authorities told us that if he didn’t get there sooner, the case against him could be dropped because the witnesses are elderly.â€
Holloway was last seen alive with van der Sloot and two other men 18 years ago leaving a nightclub in Aruba.
Police in Aruba arrested and released the three men – van der Sloot and brothers Deepak and Satish Kalpoe – multiple times in 2005 and 2007 in connection with Holloway’s disappearance. Attorneys for the men maintained their innocence throughout the investigation.
In December 2007, the Aruban Public Prosecutor’s Office said none of the three would be charged and dropped the cases against them, citing insufficient evidence.
Holloway’s body has not been found. An Alabama judge signed an order in 2012 declaring her legally dead. No one is currently charged in her death.
The-CNN-Wire
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