Chilean police nabs Joran van der Sloot after a slain woman was found in the hotel room where he had been staying. A DUTCHMAN suspected of engaging in sex trade in Thailand, has been arrested in Chile. The Chilean police, however, nabbed him in connection with the murder of a 21-year-old Peruvian woman.

Joran van der Sloot had earlier gone underground after being suspected of supplying Thai sex workers to Europe’s sex industry. While in Thailand, he was at one time reportedly seen on a plane bound for Koh Samui.

Mr. van der Sloot was taken into custody by Chilean police, after a taxi he was riding in was stopped around midday of June 3 on Route 68 coming from the coastal city of Viña del Mar, Douglas Rodriguez, Chile police inspector in Arica, told the Monitor.

Mr. van der Sloot – also a suspect in the 2005 disappearance in Aruba of US teen Natalee Holloway – is wanted in Peru for questioning in the case of 21-year-old Stephany Flores, found dead in a Lima hotel room on June 2. On May 31, van der Sloot, entered Chile on a tourist visa, accompanied by two Peruvians, who returned to Peru three hours later, according to Chilean police.

In Lima, Peru, police General Cesar Guardia told reporters that the slain woman was found Wednesday in the hotel room where van der Sloot had been staying. There were abrasions on her face and body, and signs of trauma, but investigators were awaiting an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

General Guardia said van der Sloot, in Peru for a poker tournament, was identified in a casino video recording with Ramírez in the early hours of Sunday morning. A hotel employee also told police the Dutchman entered his room with Ramírez around 5 a.m. and he departed alone several hours later. "We have convincing incriminating evidence," Guardia said at a news conference. "We have testimony from a hotel employee who saw the victim accompany [van der Sloot] to his room...at 5 in the morning. Approximately four hours later he left the hotel."

Ramírez is the daughter of former presidential candidate and prominent local businessman Ricardo Flores. Van der Sloot is still a suspect in the unsolved May 30, 2005, disappearance of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway.

Van der Sloot has also been filmed in Bangkok where he was allegedly recruiting Thai girls to work in the sex industry in Europe.

In images secretly shot by crime reporter Peter R. de Vries, van der Sloot is shown accepting 1,000 euros as advance payment for his services. Independent lawyer J.P. Plasman says that by receiving the money van der Sloot has committed a punishable offence.

Judicial authorities in Thailand had requested copies of the images broadcast by Dutch commercial TV channel SBS6.

Following disclosures about his behavior, van der Sloot, using the alias of "Murphy Jenkins," was reported to have fled to avoid arrest by the Thai authorities. A Dutch eyewitness claimed he had seen van der Sloot on an internal flight to the island of Koh Samui.