Dutch police offer record €2m reward in hunt for drug lord

**Dutch police offer record €2m reward in hunt for drug lord**

Dutch police describe Jos Leijdekkers as a "key player" in the global cocaine trade.

Dutch authorities have announced a record €2m (£1.7m/$2.24m) reward for information that leads to the arrest of Jos Leijdekkers, one of Europe’s most-wanted men.

The 35-year-old, also known as Bolle Jos (Chubby Jos), had already been accused by Dutch police of being "one of the key players in international cocaine trafficking".

Explaining the ten-fold increase in the reward, Dutch justice minister David van Weel said it was "necessary given the threat that Leijdekkers poses to national security, our democratic rule of law, and the international legal order".

Dutch prosecutors said finding Leijdekkers was their "highest priority" and that any information provided would remain confidential.

He was photographed at a church service in Tihun, Sierra Leone, in January 2025.

Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency, lists him among its most-wanted fugitives.

In January 2025, Dutch police said he was thought to be living in Sierra Leone and using the name Omar Sherrif.

Images that appeared to show Leijdekkers alongside President Julius Maada Bio and other officials have also surfaced previously.

Dutch prosecutors have sought his extradition, but Sierra Leone has declined to cooperate, leading the EU to cut some aid to the country.

West Africa is a key transit route for cocaine trafficking from Latin America.

In 2024, a court in Rotterdam sentenced Leijdekkers in absentia to 24 years in prison after convicting him of smuggling more than seven metric tons of cocaine.

Several other police investigations in the Netherlands are still under way.

Leijdekkers has also been handed a 79-year prison sentence in Belgium.

Dutch authorities believe he has earned tens of millions of euros from cocaine smuggling, and accuse him of money laundering and involvement in extreme violence.