{"id":2234245,"date":"2026-11-02T17:29:49","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T14:29:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2234245"},"modified":"2026-11-02T17:29:49","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T14:29:49","slug":"dutch-police-offer-record-e2m-reward-in-hunt-for-drug-lord-jos-leijdekkers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2234245","title":{"rendered":"Dutch police offer record \u20ac2m reward in hunt for drug lord Jos Leijdekkers"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/055d\/live\/20e151f0-d6dd-11f1-b2be-0146bf989691.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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\"NetherlandsNetherlands police<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Dutch police say Jos Leijdekkers is a “key player” in the international cocaine trade<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Dutch authorities have offered a record award of \u20ac2m (\u00a31.7m\/$2.24m) for information leading to the arrest of Jos Leijdekkers, one of Europe’s most-wanted men. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The 35-year-old, who is also known as Bolle Jos (Chubby Jos), was previously accused of being “one of the key players in international cocaine trafficking” by Dutch police. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Commenting on the decision to increase the reward ten-fold, Dutch justice minister David van Weel said it was “necessary given the threat that Leijdekkers poses to national security, our democratic rule of law, and the international legal order”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Dutch prosecutors said capturing Leijdekkers was their “highest priority” and any information shared would be kept secret.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"ReutersReuters<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
He was pictured at a church service in Tihun, Sierra Leone, in January 2025<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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He is listed by Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency, as among their most-wanted fugitives. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In January 2025, Dutch police said he was believed to be living in Sierra Leone and going by the name Omar Sherrif.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Images apparently showing Leijdekkers in the company of President Julius Maada Bio and other officials have previously emerged.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Dutch prosecutors have demanded his extradition but Sierra Leone has refused to cooperate, prompting the EU to cut some aid to the country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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West Africa is a major transit point for cocaine trafficking from Latin America.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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In 2024, a court in Rotterdam sentenced Leijdekkers in absentia to 24 years in prison after finding him guilty of smuggling \u2060more than seven metric tons of cocaine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Several other police investigations in the Netherlands are ongoing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Leijdekkers has also been sentenced to 79 years in prison in Belgium.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Dutch authorities estimate he has made tens of millions of euros from \u2060cocaine smuggling, and accuse him of money laundering and involvement in the use of extreme violence.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/ckly0v2q2yxlo”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/news\/1024\/branded_news\/055d\/live\/20e151f0-d6dd-11f1-b2be-0146bf989691.jpg”] Netherlands police Dutch police say Jos Leijdekkers is a “key player” in the international cocaine trade Dutch authorities have offered a record award of \u20ac2m (\u00a31.7m\/$2.24m) for information leading to the arrest of Jos Leijdekkers, one of Europe’s most-wanted men. The 35-year-old, who is also known as Bolle Jos (Chubby Jos), was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[35,226],"class_list":["post-2234245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-bbc-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2234245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234245\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2234245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2234245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2234245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}