Jos Leijdekkers, listed among Europe’s most-wanted drug lords for a slew of charges —ranging from cocaine trafficking to armed robbery— was captured at the New Year’s crossover in a church in Tihun, Sierra Leone. according to a video shared by First Lady Fatima Maada Bio via Facebook.
Reuters analysed the footage and confirmed Leijdekkers’s identity, affirming he sat two rows behind the Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio.
Most-wanted drug lord enjoys protection from President Bio’s security detail
Citing three sources, the foreign newspaper reported that the fugitive was married to the president’s daughter, Agnes, which entitled him to top-tier protection. Despite being on the run, Leijdekkers enjoyed high-level protection from the president’s security detail.
A Dutch court in Rotterdam in June 2024 sentenced Leijdekkers, a repeat offender listed among Netherlands’ and Europol’s most-wanted criminals, was sentenced to 24 years imprisonment. He was convicted and sentenced in absentia for ordering the murder of a civilian, shipping 7,000 kilograms of cocaine and his involvement in an armed robbery that took place in Finland.
Having found Leijdekkers guilty of assault and drug trafficking, a Belgian court sentenced him in absentia in September 2024 to 10 years in prison.
Dutch authorities confirmed that the Europe’s most-wanted drug lord had been staying in Sierra Leone over the last six months.
The drug lord served none of these sentences hibernating in Sierra Leone where Reuters’s sources said he now lives with the president’s daughter.
The African nation has issued a rebuttal, saying that Sierra Leone “has no knowledge about the identity and the issues detailed in the reports about the individual in question” due to the large volume of “family events” that the president attended “during the festive season.”
Time and again, Sierra Leone has come under heavy scrutiny over suspicions that the country served as a shipment conduit for Latin American cocaine being transported to Europe.
The Sierra Leonean ministry released a statement affirming willingness to cooperate with all relevant agencies including Interpol and the Dutch government to handle the matter.
