ORANJESTAD, Aruba – Finding 18-year-old Natalee Holloway (search) is currently Aruba's "No. 1 goal," the country's prime minister said Thursday after three more suspects were arrested in connection with the American tourist's disappearance.
"We stand behind the family of Natalee Holloway in full support," Prime Minister Nelson Orlando Oduber said. "This investigation must move along swiftly … we will not stop until we have answers. We are shocked and completely distraught."
Holloway was on a five-day graduation vacation with 124 classmates and seven chaperones when she disappeared without a trace. The Alabaman was last seen at a local bar about 1:30 a.m. Memorial Day (search), getting into a car with three islanders she'd apparently befriended.
Those three islanders were questioned and released last week but were arrested again on Thursday. Two other men are also in custody and being questioned.
The Aruba police and other international authorities "are doing everything in their power to find Natalee," Oduber said, adding that he's been in touch with U.S. officials like Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Alabama Gov. Bob Riley and Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions.
"The government of Aruba has always made the safety ... of our community and our visitors a top priority," the prime minister said during a press conference that Holloway's mother also attended. "Aruba has very strong ties to the United States. We will not tolerate any activities that harm our American friends or any of our international visitors, or part of our community at large."
Officials said earlier Thursday that the three men arrested gave the Alabama teen a ride back to her hotel the night she disappeared.
The trio — two Surinamese and a native of the Netherlands — told police they dropped off Holloway at her hotel around 2 a.m. on May 30. Holiday Inn employees, however, say that security cameras did not record her return.
The Dutch suspect, Joran Andreas Petrus Van Der Sloot, a student at Aruba International School, came out of his upper-class home in Oranjestad on Thursday with his head covered in a blue and green towel.
The Surinamese brothers in custody are Satish Kalpoe, born July 30, 1986, and Deepak Kalpoe, born Oct. 6, 1983. They are the sons of a local Aruban business man.
Van Der Sloot's father is a prominent official in the Aruban justice system. The younger Van Der Sloot, born Aug. 6, 1987, may have been romantically involved with the 18-year-old Holloway the night she disappeared. He met Holloway at a hotel casino two days before she was last seen, Aruban Police Commander Jahn van der Straaten told reporters.
The three, described by authorities earlier as witnesses and "persons of interest," had been released last week after being questioned about Holloway.
Aruba Attorney General Caren Janssen (search) said the three were arrested at 6 a.m. Thursday. She refused to say whether they were connected to the two men already being detained in the disappearance.
"It is likely it may have been a police strategy to let these three men go to gather more information," Ruben Trapenberg, spokesman for the Aruba government, told FOX News Thursday morning.
"The three witnesses gave information about the two guys [already in custody] and that is why they were held. If one of those two has an alibi, then the story [given by the three witnesses] doesn't fit and therefore the two may then be released depending on the proof."
Police also impounded a gray Honda car. Holloway's friends reported seeing her leave a bar in a silver car the night she disappeared.
Local police and the FBI said a lack of any solid leads was hindering progress in their search for Holloway. Local officials have asked the FBI to bring in dogs trained to search.
Police and volunteer land searches continued Wednesday with no results, while water searches, also unsuccessful, had been suspended "at this time," police spokesman Edwin Comenencia said.
"There is no physical evidence whatsoever and there are no statements given by any person that would indicate Natalee Holloway is not alive," Chris Lejuez, a court-appointed defense attorney for one of the two men previously arrested in the case, told FOX News Thursday morning.
Suspects: Holloway Was Drunk When We Dropped Her Off
Lejuez told FOX News that he and his colleague Noriana Pietersz had been given witness statements from only the two Surinamese citizens.
"I'm very happy that they're expanding the investigation," Lejuez told FOX News on Thursday morning. "It shows they are not focusing anymore on my client and the other person in custody. It shows the police finally realize they're not going to get anywhere with these two people."
The Kalpoe brothers told police that Van Der Sloot became intimate with Holloway at the California Lighthouse beach before they dropped her off at her hotel. They told police Holloway had been drinking heavily and was drunk, and then when she got out of their car in front of the Holiday Inn, she stumbled and fell to the ground.
When one tried to help her up, she pushed him away and said, "I can stand on my own!"
They say she then headed towards the lobby, and a black man in black pants and a black t-shirt escorted her inside.
The tape from the Holiday Inn lobby camera was reportedly checked by police but no images of Holloway were found, and the attorney says the security guard on duty from midnight on told authorities he never saw the teenager enter the hotel that night.
On Wednesday, a judge ruled that authorities had enough evidence to hold two former security guards arrested Sunday in connection with Holloway's disappearance.
At least one of the suspects, 28-year-old Abraham Jones, appeared in court in Aruba Wednesday morning. The other was identified as 30-year-old Mickey John.
Neither man has been charged with a crime, but both were being held on suspicion of first- and second-degree murder and capital kidnapping, the latter of which is invoked when a kidnapping victim is killed, according to their lawyers. According to Aruba law, only strong suspicion — not evidence — is necessary to continue holding a suspect.
"There is no reason to believe he's not telling the truth," Lejuez told FOX News Thursday morning, referring to his client, Jones. He added that Jones has repeated the same story to several people — that he was at a beach festival the night Holloway disappeared, then went home with his wife, where he slept until 7 a.m. the next day.
Lejuez dropped John as a client per a request from the prosecutor, who said it's not ethical for him to represent both clients. Whereas normally he would oppose such a move, Lejuez said, "in this case, considering the grave consequences it would have for the island of Aruba, I have ... deviated from what I normally do and honored their request to do so."
Pietersz, John's lawyer, said she spoke to her client in jail Thursday.
"I have decided not to demand the immediate release of my client," she said. "We prefer to let the prosecution investigate, confident that my client will be released by Wednesday" when a judge will decide whether to extend his detention.
Authorities may hold John and Jones without filing formal charges for up to 116 days, lawyers said. The two are Aruban citizens, though one is originally from Grenada. Family members insist the two men are innocent.
Judge J.S. Kuiperdal will review the case June 15 and every eight days after that if needed, officials said. Prosecutors asked that the defendants be kept in jail at least until June 15, when they hope to conclude their investigation.
Investigators must come up with some evidence to hold the suspects beyond that date.
Attorney general spokeswoman Vivian Van Der Biezan said she would check into whether Dutch law allows a charge of murder if no body is found.
Authorities have not said Holloway was a victim of foul play and have not ruled out any possibilities, including that she may have drowned.
Holloway spent her last night at a beach concert and then eating and dancing at Carlos 'n Charlie's bar and restaurant, which has donated $5,000 of a reward for information on her. She is described as a straight-A student who had a full scholarship to a premedical program at the University of Alabama.
The search for the Mountain Brook, Ala., teen began shortly after she failed to show up for her flight home the next morning. Police found her passport in her hotel room with her packed bags.
The Aruba government and local tourism organizations have offered a $20,000 reward for information leading to her rescue. Family and benefactors in Alabama have offered $30,000.
FOX News' Jonathan Serrie, Liza Porteus and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox