Police in Sierra Leone has said that they are hunting a Dutch drug trafficker who is one of the most saved fugitives in Europe and is believed to be hiding in the country of Western Africa.
Jos Leijdekkers was sentenced in absence by a Rotterdam court in June last year to 24 years in prison for organizing the transport of seven tons of cocaine and ordering a murder.
The suspicion that he was in Sierra Leone arose after the country’s first lady, Fatima Bio, published photos and a video on social networks that showed a man who looked strongly looked to Leijdekkers in a religious service attended by the president Julius Maada Bio.
The inspector General of the National Police, William Fayia Counto, said that the investigators had identified the man in the photos such as Leijdekkers, aka “Sheriff of Omar”.
First Lady Fatima Maada Bio through Facebook/Via Reuters
“A policeman hunting has been released to arrest him, visiting several places, but they have not yet found him,” he said at a press conference.
The 33 -year -old man, who according to the authorities are also known as “Bolle Jos” (“Gordito Jos”), is in the Agency for the Application of the European Union Europol’s Law List more Wtedhed.
“Leijdekkers is considered one of the key actors in international cocaine traffic,” according to Europol.
It is also believed that Leijdekkers is involved in the disappearance and death of Naima Jillal, a woman who disappeared in 2019 after she got into a car in Amsterdam, According to Europol. The supposedly intercepted messages showed that Leijdekkers “played an important role in Jillal’s disappearance,” the agency said.
“For a long time, there was no trace of Naima Jillal, until the photos of a woman who believes she was found in a phone seized in Marengo’s investigation,” said Europol. “The photos show that she was probably tortured and that she is probably no longer alive.”
Last month, the BBC reported That Dutch prosecutor Wim de Bruin said that the fugitive return to the Netherlands was “the highest priority.”
Europol has offered a reward of 200,000 euros ($ 208,000) for information that led to its arrest.
As BBC points out, Western Africa is an important transit point for cocaine traffic in Latin America. Last month, Sierra Leone reminded his neighboring ambassador Guinea After seven suitcases containing suspicion of cocaine they found themselves in an embassy vehicle.
