The personal belongings of a WikiLeaks associate who has been missing for three weeks have been found at sea.

Arjen Kamphuis left his hotel in Bodoe, Norway, where he was on holiday, on 20 August and has not been seen since.

His belongings were found by a fisherman on 11 September, in an area east of the town.

Police and the Red Cross are now searching the area where the belongings were found with a rescue vessel.

Norwegian police said: "Due to the ongoing investigation the police do not at this time wish to release any information about which specific items that have been found."


Officers have no main theory about his disappearance, and have not determined whether he was the victim of a criminal act.

Image: The hotel in Bodoe where Mr Kamphuis was staying before he went missing

WikiLeaks tweeted on 2 September, to say the 47-year-old's disappearance was "strange".

Mr Kamphius, from the Netherlands, describes himself as a "free software advocate" and "IT security adviser" in his Twitter profile.

Dutch investigators have arrived in Bodoe to help with the search, Norwegian police said in a statement.

It added: "Kamphuis has still not been found and the case is open for different outcomes, but we still haven't found anything that indicates a crime has been committed."

Mr Kamphuis, who is shown in pictures with blond hair and a thin beard, had a ticket for a flight to Trondheim on 22 August.

A phone linked to him was switched on near Stavanger, a city 990 miles (1600km) from Bodoe, on 30 August, but police have not been able to confirm if he was using it.

A German SIM card was inserted when the phone was on.