Europe’s most wanted drug lord seen in video partying with Sierra Leone officials

Dutch fugitive and Europe’s most wanted drug baron, Jos Leijdekkers also known as ‘Bolle Jos’ has been seen in a new video that has surfaced recently and obtained by Follow the Money and AD, partying with Sierra Leone officials including the country’s Executive Director of Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Andrew Jaiah Kai Kai, who was also a former Chief Immigration Officer of the country.

In the video which was published online yesterday March 7, 2025, Leijdekkers is seen dressed in a Versace shirt, and handing a gift to Alusine Kanneh, the immediate past head of the Sierra Leone Immigration Service, who was celebrating his birthday. The trio are seen laughing heartily. Kanneh was however, fired yesterday and replaced by Moses Tiffa Baio as Chief Immigration Officer. No reasons have been assigned for Kanneh’s removal.

The notorious Leijdekkers, who is wanted for drug trafficking and murder has been sentenced multiple times in absentia in two European countries.

In February this year he was jailed for 13 years in absentia in Belgium for masterminding an attempt to retrieve 10 tonnes of seized cocaine being held in a customs warehouse in Kalmthout, a municipality in the Belgian province of Antwerp.

The attempt was foiled by Belgian law enforcement, who also arrested seven individuals who are facing 10-years in jail. Eleven others received various sentences from one to nine years, and two were acquitted.

The 33-year-old Leijdekkers, wanted for drug smuggling in his home country, The Netherlands, was early in the year seen in the company of Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio and his daughter in videos shared online and examined by journalists. While some sources say he has been hiding in Sierra Leone for at least two years, Dutch officials say they believe he has been living in that country for at least six months.

The latest video showing Bolle Jos and the two officials. In the middle in black suit and bow tie is Alusine Kanneh and on the right in a stripped T-shirt is Andrew Kai Kai.

In June last year, he was sentenced in absentia to 24 years in prison by a Rotterdam court for the offence of smuggling seven tonnes of cocaine, an armed robbery in Finland and ordering murder. In September last year, a Belgian court also sentenced him to 10 years in prison for drug trafficking offences and assault. Dutch police also suspect his involvement in the disappearance and suspected torture and murder of Naima Jilal, a woman who disappeared in Amsterdam in 2019.

In early January, Leijdekkers was seen in video footage shared on social media including one by the wife of President Maada Bio of Sierra Leone in the company of the president and his family at a New Year’s Eve church service. In another undated video, also shared widely on social media and seen by Ghana Business News, the wanted man is shown harvesting rice alongside the Sierra Leonean president on his farm in Tihun, a rural town in Sogbini Chiefdom, Bonthe District in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone authorities initially denied the presence of the fugitive in the country. The Inspector General of Police in a press conference told journalists that the individual identified in the video is rather known to them as Umar Sheriff, however, they mounted searches at all the places they had hoped to find him, including initiating a manhunt, but they haven’t been able to find the individual.

The Dutch authorities subsequently issued an extradition request to the Sierra Leone authorities. There is no extradition treated between the two countries, however.

Leijdekkers is also widely reported to be in a romantic relationship with Agnes Bio, daughter of the Sierra Leone president.

While the Sierra Leone authorities have consistently failed to find the fugitive, this latest video further confirms suspicions that the authorities may know where Bolle Jos is hiding, but might be unwilling to arrest him.

However, a Dutch journalist, Sophie Van Leeuwen who was in the country in the middle of February this year to report on the story was arrested in the capital, Freetown, and police said she was suspected of filming without a permit. Sophie is an Africa correspondent for RTL Nieuws, and she had earlier attended the Sierra Leone police weekly press conference, and has said she is accredited to report from the country. The police later said she had been released to continue with her work after questioning at the Criminal Investigations Department. However, they seized two of her memory cards and erased some files from her laptop citing security reasons.

By Emmanuel K Dogbevi

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