“Socalj” for Borderland Beat
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The Dutch government is planning to move a motion at the European parliament calling on the European Union to stop sending development aid to Sierra Leone, because of President Bio’s “complicity in the growing global narcotics trade and protection of cocaine trafficker ‘Bolle’ Jos,” according to Netherlands Times.
Jos Leijdekkers, after fleeing the Netherlands in 2022 via Spain, Dubai and Turkey, resurfaced several years ago in the African country of Sierra Leone, where he reportedly has posed as a businessman called “Omar Sheriff” and is reportedly married to a daughter of President Julius Maada Bio.
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Who is “Chubby Jos?”
In 2011, 20-year-old Joseph Johannes Leijdekkers was sentenced to six years in prison in the Netherlands for attempted double manslaughter.
The son of a local brothel owner and small-time criminal in the Dutch city of Breda, Leijdekkers was on a night out when a fight broke out with two Moroccan brothers, reportedly over a bar stool. Outside, he pulled a pistol and opened fire, injuring both brothers, one critically. In court, Leijdekkers declined to explain what had motivated the attack.
While in prison, he was connected to Afro-Surinamese criminal Piet Wortel, who made his name organizing the transportation of illegal drugs between Suriname and Belgium and the Netherlands.
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It was discovered during the Sky ECC hack that Leijdekkers organized large shipments of cocaine from Latin America to Europe.
These deliveries entered Europe through Rotterdam and Antwerp, the continent’s two biggest ports, which stretch dozens of miles into the inland waterways of Belgium and the Netherlands, each processing over 10 million containers every year. With only a small percentage of containers being inspected, the ports have long been key entry points for cocaine destined for Europe, the world’s largest market for the drug.
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Time in Turkey
Together with his wife, children and other associates, he lived in a plate-glass villa overlooking the Bosphorus and Istanbul skyline. According to leaked police files, he laundered millions through shell companies and traded in gold bullion, which he flew to Dubai on private jets, according to an investigation by BirGun, a Turkish news outlet.
In May 2021, following pressure from Dutch authorities, Leijdekkers’ Turkish residence permit was briefly revoked, but only in June 2023 did Turkey clamp down on his network.
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Torture & Murder of Europe’s “Cocaine Godmother”
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Three disturbing images of a woman who bears a close resemblance to Naima Jillal, who disappeared in 2019, were found on a BlackBerry when Mocro-Maffia figure Ridouan Taghi was arrested in Dubai.
They reportedly involve graphic images showing a naked woman tied to a chair. Images of severed limbs were also allegedly seen. The police had previously stated that they feared Naima Jillal might be the victim of a settling of accounts in the criminal underworld. Her disappearance may have been related to a failed cocaine deal, for which she was reportedly held accountable.
Jillal, who was 54 when she disappeared, was known as the Godmother of the Coke or Aunt Jillal in the criminal underworld. She was regarded as a top link in the international cocaine trade and was reportedly one of the few women to rise to the top of the Dutch cocaine trade.
“The Moroccan Naima, who hails from Utrecht, has been working in the cocaine trade for years,” the Criminal Intelligence Team reported on November 28, 2017, according to Het Parool. “Naima has the contacts to set up lines for the large-scale import of cocaine, involved in reselling drugs and arranging storage facilities, among other things.”
Failed Customs Robbery
In October 2023, customs in Belgium discovered a shipment of 10 tons of cocaine worth around €250 million, in a container of soy flour. To remove the drugs from the shipment, the container was taken to a warehouse in Kalmthout, and eventually the drugs were moved to a customs warehouse in Antwerp for destruction.
Leijdekkers’ network wanted to recover the shipment. Armed men appeared at the Kalmthout warehouse soon after the seizure, but it was empty. They threatened two individuals before leaving. One of the victims called the police and the rapid response team (SRT) intercepted a suspicious van with Dutch number plates near the customs warehouse. Police arrested seven heavily armed men.
Further investigation identified Jos as the mastermind behind the planned heist, the robbery was meticulously planned but ultimately was not successful.
He was sentenced to 13 years in prison by the Antwerp correctional court for ordering the failed theft of 10 tons of cocaine.
He was sentenced to 24 years in prison on June 25, 2024, for six drug transports totaling almost 7 tons of cocaine, an armed robbery in Finland and ordering a murder.
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Freetown Nightclub Shooting
On New Year’s Day, 2023, Hussein Fawaz, the nephew of one of Sierra Leone’s Lebanese tycoons, joined the growing line outside Scarlet, an exclusive nightclub at a seaside resort in Freetown. He was already tipsy from a family party earlier in the night when a now athletic Jos, bodyguard and entourage in tow, cut past the queue.
Hours later, as Fawaz was leaving the club, he was attacked in the parking garage as he was shot in both of his kneecaps. Conflicting stories from witnesses and police reports claim either the ‘white man’ or his bodyguard did the shooting.
Rightaway, local media outlets published a series of puff pieces stressing the innocence of the alleged shooter, whom they named Omar Sheriff. He was a “Norwegian/Turkish mining investor,” with interests in “property development and charity work,” the reports claimed. “Mr. Omar Sheriff is in Sierra Leone to invest in the mining sector, thus creating jobs for young people and supporting economic growth,” it was reported.
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Sierra Leone’s First Family
Dutch authorities have not been able to secure his extradition from Sierra Leone, where he is widely reported to be well connected with the country’s political and economic elite.
Leijdekker has been spotted with the President of Sierra Leone, Julius Maada Bio, in official footage, according to the investigation. Mohamed Kamarainba Mansaray, a failed 2018 presidential candidate, claims that Leijdekkers bribes high-ranking officials and is in a relationship with the president’s daughter.
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30 Ton Cocaine Seizure
The vessel was apprehended in international waters off the West African coast on May 1 by Spain’s Civil Guard. On board, officers found more than 30 tons of cocaine worth over $954 million, and arrested 23 people including Dutch, Surinamese and Philippines nationals.
Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters the bust was “one of the biggest, not only nationally but internationally.”
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The cargo ship, called the Arconian, had last set out from the Sierra Leonean capital of Freetown, according to Spanish court documents.
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While the Arconian was on paper destined for the Libyan port of Benghazi, authorities say the real plan was for speedboats to offload the cocaine at sea and smuggle the load to the Spanish coast.
Dutch officials have linked the shipment to the Mocro Maffia, the same Dutch-based criminal network that was headed by Taghi. Dutch media and Turkish reports have also linked the shipment to Leijdekkers’ network.
Spanish law enforcement believe it was organized by Leijdekkers, who is on the European Union’s most wanted list of fugitives and has his base in Sierra Leone.
“He is the one who [allegedly] set up the operation,” said Lieutenant Colonel Oscar Remacha, head of the Civil Guard’s anti-drug trafficking department.
“He had those 30 tons stored in Sierra Leone, and he organized the transport and supplied the drugs,” Remacha alleged in an interview with OCCRP.
The Spanish court document does not list Leijdekkers among those charged in the case.
Leijdekkers’ lawyer confirmed by phone that he had received emailed questions about the Spanish allegations from OCCRP, but said: “I see no reason to respond.”
The bust prompted Abdul Kargbo, leader of the opposition All People’s Congress party, to write an open letter on May 10 to the country’s president, Julius Maada Bio. Kargbo referred to media reports about Sierra Leone’s role as a hub for cocaine trafficking, which has also been documented by organizations like the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Kargbo criticized “the prolonged silence and apparent hesitation by the Government of Sierra Leone in responding firmly and transparently to these matters,” and cited in particular the continued presence of Leijdekkers in the country.
Remacha, of the Spanish Civil Guard, said Leijdekkers appears to enjoy “total impunity, total confidence” in running trafficking operations out of Sierra Leone.
The Sierra Leone Police and the Internal Affairs Ministry did not respond to requests for comment before publication. The government in February announced 52 convictions related to drug trafficking and organized crime, saying they posed “a serious threat to national security.”
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Brother’s Arrest in Turkey
Last month, Turkish authorities arrested 23 people as part of a large anti-drug operation targeting those linked to Jos.
Turkey extradited the older brother of Jos Leijdekkers, known as Bolle Jos, to the Netherlands after Turkish authorities detained him in İstanbul last month.
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Recent Arrest Attempts
The Netherlands has made multiple attempts to get Leijdekkers extradited, but so far without success. So a plan was made to arrest him in the African country, according to Van den Heuvel. Another plan was to capture him at sea while he was traveling by boat to Liberia.
Last fall, the Dutch Intelligence Services knew exactly where in Sierra Leone was located. The Netherlands purchased a cargo ship to spy on the criminal discreetly and had located him. Special units of the Marine Corps and the Special Intervention Service were “waiting for the perfect timing” off the coast of the West African country.
But then the arrest was called off at the last moment, up to two times. “Several government officials were terrified by the plan, and emotions ran very high during the discussions,” Van der Heuvel said. According to the crime reporter, government officials were also “concerned about their own safety.”
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| Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio |
Development Aid at Risk
Minister Van Weel said that the Netherlands was under “no illusion” that diplomacy would convince Sierra Leone to extradite Leijdekkers. He said that the Netherlands would start working to suspend European Union development aid subsidies to the country.
In 2025, Prime Minister Dick Schoof met with Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio during a European Union–African Union summit in Angola to request Leijdekkers’ extradition, a spokesperson confirmed.
Sierra Leone has reportedly indicated it is investigating the case, but the country has no extradition treaty with the Netherlands, making Leijdekkers’ capture and transfer unlikely.
Because Sierra Leone is failing to arrest and extradite the convicted Dutch drug criminal Jos Leijdekkers, also known as Bolle Jos, the Dutch government is going to try to halt development aid from the European Union to the West African country. The Cabinet wants other European countries to help increase pressure on Sierra Leone in this way, Minister David van Weel of Justice and Security said on the television program Binnenhof, NOS reports.
The EU has allocated €325 million in subsidies to Sierra Leone for the period 2021 to 2027. The country also benefits from regional and international EU programs.
“It is, of course, bizarre that we facilitate or support a country that simultaneously offers a safe haven to one of the biggest drug criminals known worldwide,” Van Weel said.
According to the Justice Minister, arresting Bolle Jos is one of his top priorities and also in Sierra Leone’s interest “In our estimation, this man has an income of hundreds of millions of euros per month in a country with a gross national product lower than his income. That will naturally corrupt such a country completely.”
In late May 2025, Bio appeared at Oxford University, where he was the keynote speaker at the Oxford Africa Conference 2025. Speaking at the Blavatnik School of Government, he delivered a milquetoast address about the need to transform Africa.
Bio’s complicity in the scandal went unmentioned. Instead, he was praised for “ushering in significant governance reforms within Sierra Leone” and “exhibiting commendable leadership qualities” during his administration.
In June 2025, Bio was appointed chair of ECOWAS, a political and economic union of West African states encompassing almost 400 million people.
Sources OCCRP, New Lines Mag, Borderland Beat, NL Times, NL Times, Europol, RTL