Joran van der Sloot gets another 18 years in prison in Peru for drug smuggling

Joran van der Sloot was sentenced to another 18 years in prison in Peru for drug smuggling. The Dutch man, who was already serving a 28-year-long prison sentence for the murder of Stephany Flores, will be in prison until 2045 because a prison term in Peru cannot exceed 35 years, De Telegraaf reports.

The authorities in Peru charged Van der Sloot with smuggling large batches of cocaine while imprisoned in Juliaca, the Dutch man’s lawyer confirmed to the newspaper. A fellow prisoner’s relative allegedly helped him smuggle the drugs. The contraband was hidden in shipments of sugar beets.

According to the court in Peru, Van der Sloot then sold the drugs to fellow prisoners, and sent the cocaine abroad in postal parcels. The court sentenced him to 18 years and four months in prison for this drug trafficking. The sentence was equal to what the prosecution demanded against him.

The Dutch man is also suspected of involvement in the disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway. The American went missing in Aruba in 2005. Officially, Holloway's disappearance has never been solved, though an American journalist claimed last May she uncovered new information connected to the case, which she had yet to reveal eight months later.

Van der Sloot was convicted in the 2010 slaying of 21-year-old Stephany Flores, who was found beaten to death in a hotel in Lima exactly five years to the day after Holloway disappeared. In 2012, a Peruvian court sentenced Van der Sloot to 28 years in prison for the murder of Flores.