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The Netherlands and Sierra Leone are investigating reports that the Dutch cocaine kingpin Jos Leijdekkers is living in the West African nation.
One of Europe’s most wanted fugitives has been hiding out in the West African nation of Sierra Leone for at least six months, according to prosecutors in the Netherlands.Convicted Dutch drug trafficker Jos Leijdekkers, 33, was sentenced in absentia by a Rotterdam court last year to 24 years in prison for smuggling more than 7,000kg of cocaine. He is among both Europol and the Netherlands’ most wanted criminals.Photos and videos shared by Dutch media last month showed a man said to be Leijdekkers attending a church service on 1 January in Tihun, a remote town in southwestern Sierra Leone.In the footage, the individual identified as Leijdekkers can be seen sitting a few rows behind Sierra Leone’s president, Julius Maada Bio, and his family.Euronews could not verify the footage. Reuters news agency verified the images and reported that Leijdekkers was sitting next to Bio’s daughter, Agnes, with sources saying she is married to the drug trafficker. The relationship has not been confirmed by Reuters.The Dutch public prosecution service said in a statement that securing the return of Leijdekkers — who also goes by the nickname Bolle Jos — was of “the highest priority”.”We are doing everything we can in that regard but we cannot comment any further because of the ongoing investigation,” Dutch prosecutor Wim de Bruin said on Friday.According to global law enforcement officials, Sierra Leone and several other West African countries are major transit hubs for the trafficking of cocaine from Latin America to Europe.Record reward of €200,000Dutch police had described Leijdekkers as one of the “key players in international cocaine trafficking” and said that he had probably laundered tens of millions of euros and hundreds of kilos of gold earned through the drug trade. Leijdekkers was suspected to have been living in Turkey until recently, but has been in Sierra Leone for at least six months, according to prosecutors in the Netherlands.A reward of €200,000 has been offered for decisive tips that lead to the arrest of Leijdekkers, the highest amount ever set by Dutch prosecutors for a fugitive. Sierra Leone’s information ministry said in a statement on Sunday that it was investigating reports about Leijdekkers and that authorities were willing to work with the Dutch government, Interpol and other international law enforcement agencies.The statement said Bio “attended numerous family events during the festive season” and “has no knowledge about the identity and the issues detailed in the reports about the individual in question”.Separately, former Belgian national team footballer Radja Nainggolan was arrested on Monday as part of a wider investigation into cocaine trafficking into Europe from South America, the Brussels public prosecutor’s office said in a statement.Brussels federal police carried out 30 searches on Monday morning — mainly in the province of Antwerp and in and around Brussels — seizing 2.7kg of cocaine along with cash and a large number of luxury items, the statement said.The Brussels public prosecutor’s office said that 16 people were arrested in total, and confirmed that Nainggolan, 36, was “deprived of his liberty in connection with this case”.Nainggolan’s lawyer, Omar Souidi, told Belgium’s daily Le Soir that his client — who currently plays for the second-tier Belgian team Lokeren-Temse — denied any involvement and said he was “a footballer, not a criminal”.
