Dutch prosecutors search to confiscate $253m from drug baron hiding in Sierra Leone
Dutch public prosecutors on the hunt for drug baron and fugitive believed to be in hiding in Sierra Leone, Jos Leijdekkers are in search of to confiscate his belongings totalling $253 million.
Information reviews say the quantity is the worth of unlawful belongings amassed by the person on the run, also called ‘Bolle Jos’, from the proceeds of cocaine trafficking.
In keeping with the prosecutors, the belongings embrace gold and luxurious objects. Leijdekkers is believed to have made about €114 million from 14 cocaine shipments in lower than a 12 months.
The prosecutors citing intercepted communications, say the 33-year-old Dutch nationwide has additionally spent €47 million on 975 kilograms of gold in lower than six months. They added that he additionally purchased actual property together with a resort in Turkey and flats in Dubai.
They allege that he has additional acquired two Bentley automobiles, designer luggage, jewelry and watches, bringing the overall of the illicitly acquired belongings to $253 million.
Leijdekkers, wished for drug smuggling in The Netherlands, has additionally been described as Europe’s most wished man. He has been given numerous jail sentences in absentia in a number of nations in Europe.
He was sentenced to 24 years in jail in absentia in June 2024 by a Rotterdam court docket for the offence of smuggling seven tonnes of cocaine, an armed theft in Finland and for ordering homicide. In September 2024, a Belgian court docket additionally sentenced him to 10 years in jail for drug trafficking offences and assault. Moreover, Dutch police suspect his involvement within the disappearance and suspected torture and homicide of Naima Jilal, a girl who disappeared in Amsterdam in 2019.
Dutch media uncovered the wished drug baron once they noticed him in movies and images posted on-line by the spouse of the president of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio. Within the movies and images Leijdekkers was seen attending a church service on New 12 months’s Eve in 2024, seated two rows behind the president and subsequent to his daughter, Agnes Bio, believed to be in a romantic relationship with Leijdekkers.
Following the information, Sierra Leone authorities initially issued a press release saying they’re unaware of Leijdekkers’s presence within the nation. Nevertheless, the Inspector Basic of Police of Sierra Leone, William Sellu later informed journalists that the police has by its Open Supply Investigation Unit after inspecting the images and movies, have been capable of set up that the mentioned particular person is reasonably often known as Umar Sherif, they usually have searched all over the place, however haven’t discovered him. They indicated that they’ve additionally checked out Sierra Leone’s immigration data and might’t discover any details about when he entered or exited Sierra Leone.
Regardless that the 2 nations haven’t any extradition treaty, the Dutch authorities sent an extradition request for the arrest and extradition of Leijdekkers to The Netherlands to the Sierra Leonean authorities.
On the finish of February he was sentenced to 13 years in absentia again in Belgium for masterminding an try and retrieve 10 tonnes of seized cocaine being held in a customs warehouse in Kalmthout, a municipality within the Belgian province of Antwerp.
The try was foiled by Belgian legislation enforcement, arresting seven people who’re going through 10-years in jail. Eleven others acquired numerous sentences from one to 9 years, and two have been acquitted.
Leijdekkers has since gone underground.
By Emmanuel Okay Dogbevi
The publish Dutch prosecutors seek to confiscate $253m from drug baron hiding in Sierra Leone appeared first on Ghana Business News.
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