The investigation into the disappearance of American school girl Natalee Holloway on the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba in 2005 is one of the most expensive criminal investigations ever mounted, the head of the island’s public prosecution service said on Tuesday.

‘I estimate it has cost more than $10m,’ Hans Mos was reported as saying by news agency ANP. ‘I dare the US to come up with an equally expensive criminal investigation. This is costing a fortune. The Netherlands sent detectives who had to live here and F16 planes.’
The department said the investigation into Holloway’s vanishing on the last night of her holiday would continue for several more months. Mos declined to be more specific, ANP reported.
He also declined to say if his department was nearer making a case against chief suspect Joran van der Sloot. Many leads which had been followed up amounted to nothing, ANP said.