ORANJESTAD, Aruba (AP) – Aruban police yesterday arrested the father of a young Dutch teen already in custody in connection with the disappearance of a young Alabama woman, the teen’s mother said.

“My husband was just picked up by police,” Anita van der Sloot, referring to Paul van der Sloot, said in a telephone call to The Associated Press. “I don’t know what to think.”

Authorities did not immediately comment.

Anita Van der Sloot was about to leave the house for an interview with the AP when she said police came for her husband. She did not have any additional information about the detention.

The van der Sloots’ son, 17-year-old Joran van der Sloot, has been in custody since June 9 in connection with the disappearance of 18-year-old Natalee Holloway.

The Alabama teen vanished in the early hours of May 30 while celebrating her high school graduation with other students. Two friends of van der Sloot, brothers from Suriname, are also in custody.

While Anita van der Sloot had been allowed to visit her son occasionally in jail, authorities denied similar access to Paul van der Sloot, saying they believed contact between the two could damage the investigation.

She also told AP yesterday that her son now tells her he had been alone with Holloway on the beach, but he insisted that he left her there and that she was okay when he left.

“He says, ‘Mom, I dropped the girl at the beach. I walked with her. I left her there because she wanted to stay there. I left and I don’t know what happened. There my statement ends’,” his mother said.