Kollega om den mystiske forsvinningen: – Helt sikker på at Arjen fortsatt er i live
In an anonymous office building in Amsterdam, Marco Visser is sitting in front of the computer. He is one of Arjen Kamphuis's closest colleagues, and has known him for four years. They work together in the company Pretty Good Knowledge, which helps companies with data security.
NRK has traveled to Amsterdam to get more answers in the mysterious disappearance case. Arjen Kamphuis was last seen when he left a hotel in Bodø on August 20th. Then his mobile signal was picked up in Stavanger, and all certain trails ended.
By now, nobody knows where the 47 year old is. But in his workplace, home in the Netherlands, they are sure he is alive.
"I'm sure he's alive somewhere. When he comes home I will give him a hug and a kick in the balls for what he has done to us."
The case has received great attention in Kamphuis's homeland, and Dutch police work closely with the Norwegian. The police in other European countries are also involved in the case.
Visser also says that they have never heard Kamphuis mention Bodø as any planned destination. "He said that he was going to Svalbard to watch polar bears, so everyone was surprised when he suddenly changed the plans to Bodø just before he left. I thought maybe it was a stop on the way to Svalbard."
Visser found that his colleague was missing when he did not turn up for a work meeting. It was not like Kamphuis, he says. When he tried to track down Kamphuis, he found out he never traveled to Svalbard.
"Why cancel the trip to travel to, no offense meant, Bodø? It's not exactly the world's navel."
Kamphuis spent ten days in Bodø before he was reported missing
Visser says he has no reason to believe Kamphuis has suffered an accident. He is too experienced, he believes. Nor does he think the disappearance has any connection to his past as a WikiLeaks employee, saying he is not involved there anymore.
According to Visser, Kamphuis was tired of activist life.
But he has made his own thoughts about what might have happened. He thinks something has scared him and that he is hiding.
"I think something has happened to him, either physically or mentally, which makes him want to stay hidden."
If that is correct why does not he contact you?
"He would have contacted us if he wanted to. He must be afraid, and dare not involve us," says Visser.
The police also work with the theory that Kamphuis may have staged his own disappearance. The reasons why people choose to disappear vary.
Mental illness, economics or relationship problems are common causes. Mostly men disappear.
Ancilla van der Leest, a close friend of Kamphuis, sees no obvious reason for his desire to disappear. Nevertheless, she does not want to rule out her friend's mental health.
"He was elated and happy before he left. He has good friends and a nice apartment in Amsterdam. His business is going well and he has a lot of job assignments. He had many plans for the fall."
NRK meets van der Leest at a cafe in Amsterdam. Since Arjen disappeared, she has worked day and night to get answers about the disappearance of their friend.
Most preferably she would have traveled to Norway, but she has a newborn baby to take care of.
Therefore, there was no one in the circle of friends who reacted when Arjen told about Norway's holiday trip. While he seldom took a vacation, he often traveled to places where he could enjoy nature.
Journalist Ilan Sluis works for The Netherlands's biggest daily newspaper, De Telegraaf. He does not think that Arjen has disappeared voluntarily.
"Let's say he thinks like an hacker. That he is kayaking, dropping his id papers as an experiment to see if he could get home without papers. But it has been six weeks. He would know that family and friends were worried and given a sign of life."
In recent weeks, he has worked closely on the disappearance case, and has written several reports.
Sluis is stopped by people on the street, who asks what he believes about the disappearance. Among other things, the intelligence organizations CIA or MI6 might be involved. The journalist has no good answers to what may have happened, but asks readers not to believe the wildest conspiracy theories.
Equally, the matter remains a mystery. When the kayak was found, Sluis was sure he had been victim of an accident. But when the phone contact appeared a few days later, the confusion was complete again.
"Given the security expert he is, his phone was very well secured. The chance that someone else could open the phone is small. I doesn't really make sense," according to Sluis.
Neither Ilan Sluis nor Ancilla van de Leest are impressed by the efforts of Norwegian police - especially in the start-up phase. They believe the police arrived late on the stage to start searching for Arjen.
"In the start-up phase, they were mostly concerned that he had not been formally reported missing. That was when he had been reported missing for several days already," says Van de Leest.
She believes that if the search had started faster, Arjen might have been found. Sluis fears that time is working against them and against a solution of the disappearance.
"Everything is standing still now. It has been a long time to find new pieces of the jigsaw puzzle. Both for the police and us in the media."
Ancilla van der Leest has not given up the hope that her friend is alive. But it has been six weeks and she acknowledges that she must be realistic.
"If he is no longer alive, it is still important that he is found. If he has been the victim of an accident, then it's tragic, but you can always say goodbye and have a funeral. In this case we have nothing. We have no answers."
BBM
