Netherlands to Request Sierra Leone’s Help in Arresting Wanted Drug Dealer Jos Leijdekkers

The Netherlands is preparing to formally request Sierra Leone’s assistance in arresting Jos Leijdekkers, a convicted drug dealer known as “Bolle Jos.”

Justice and Security Minister David van Weel confirmed that the request for legal assistance will be submitted “in the foreseeable future.”

Dutch authorities have been in contact with Sierra Leonean officials, who have expressed willingness to cooperate. Leijdekkers is wanted in the Netherlands and can be arrested based on this warrant. However, it remains unclear whether he is still in Sierra Leone.

Leijdekkers’s right-hand man was arrested in Turkey last year at the Netherlands’ request, but Leijdekkers himself escaped. According to reports by AD and Follow the Money, Dutch authorities have known for six months that he was residing in Sierra Leone.

The Sierra Leone police have equally stated on Sunday their readiness to collaborate with the Dutch government, Interpol, and other international police forces in the case.

This development comes as Sierra Leone faces renewed scrutiny regarding its role in international cocaine trafficking. Reports emerged last weel that Leijdekkers, 33, one of Europe’s most-wanted fugitives, has been living in the country for approximately six months, allegedly with the knowledge of President Julius Maada Bio.

Leijdekkers was sentenced in absentia to 24 years in prison last June in Rotterdam for smuggling over seven tonnes of cocaine, according to Reuters.

Further reports allege a relationship between Leijdekkers and President Bio’s daughter, raising questions about the president’s awareness of Leijdekkers’s presence and the Bio family’s potential role in harboring a convicted drug trafficker.

Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Information issued a statement claiming President Bio attended numerous public events and gatherings during the festive season, where photos were taken with many attendees.

The statement asserts the president has “no knowledge of the identity and issues detailed in the reports about the individual in question.”