Large-scale investigation has been launched by Norwegian police
A large-scale investigation has been launched by Norwegian police after Dutch citizen and associate of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Arjen Kamphuis, mysteriously disappeared.
Kamphuis, who worked closely with Assange, went missing after leaving his hotel in Bodø, Norway on August 20 according to a Twitter post from Wikileaks.
He was set to fly out from Trondheim following a 10-hour train ride – “suggesting that he disappeared in within hours in Bodø, Trondheim or on the train.”
According to a website set up to collect vital information on Kamphuis says:
“He is 47 years old, 1.78 meters tall and has a normal posture. He was usually dressed in black and carrying his black backpack. He is an avid hiker.”
According to ZH: There have reportedly been two unconfirmed possible sightings, one in Alesund, Norway, and the other in Ribe, Denmark. -DW
Norwegian police began investigating Kamphuis’s disappearance on Sunday.
“We have started an investigation,” police spokesman Tommy Bech told AFP, adding that so far they have “no clue” where the Dutch citizen is and “would not speculate about what may have happened to him.”
Until Kamphuis is officially reported missing in the Netherlands, Norwegian police cannot legally access his cellphone’s tracking data, according to the Norwegian Verdens Gang tabloid.
Update on the strange disappearance of @ArjenKamphuis. Arjen left his hotel in Bodø on August 20. He had a ticket flying out of Trondheim on August 22. The train between the two takes ~10 hours, suggesting that he disappeared in within hours in Bodø, Trondheim or on the train. https://t.co/t4OTJZGBeT
— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) September 2, 2018
The Norwegian news agency, NRK had this short update at 11.05 today, 2/9. It says: ‘Still no trace of Arjan Kamphuis.There is still no trace of the Dutch male that is reported missing in Bodø,says the police.He was last seen when he checked out of a hotel [in bodø] 20th August. pic.twitter.com/UY89hr0soa
— Øystein L. Andersen (@OysteinLAnderse) September 2, 2018
The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, meanwhile, said that it is aware of the disappearance after a friend of Kamphuis and privacy activist Ancilla van de Leest sent a tweet about his disappearance.
The first report of Kamphuis’s disappearance was reported by De Leest on Friday, writing that Kamphuis was set to board a train from Bodø to Trondheim.
Speculation over what’s happened to the Assange associate has ranged from “going dark” for a clandestine WikiLeaks mission, to killed by government operatives.