The Dutch Ministry of Justice announced on Monday that it has increased the reward for tips leading to the capture of Bolle Jos, an infamous Dutch drug criminal convicted of 78 years in prison in Belgium.
The reward for tips leading to his capture is now set at €2 million, up from the previous €200,000.
Bolle Jos, real name Jos Leijdekkers, is believed to be hiding in Sierra Leone under the alias Omar Sheriff. He is rumoured to be in a relationship with one of Sierra Leone's president Julius Maada Bioand's daughters, with whom he is said to have a child.
The public prosecutor in the Netherlands said that it will share the news of the reward in Sierra Leone itself. "We’re going to make sure everyone there knows there’s a €2 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Bolle Jos," the Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel said.
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The reward will be paid to anyone who helps secure Leijdekkers’ arrest. “For example, by providing information on when he is travelling and when there are opportunities to arrest him, such as when he is outside Sierra Leone,” the public prosecutor said.
Tips can be passed on to a special police team and will not be shared with others, including other police teams or authorities in Sierra Leone.
Leijdekkers is seen as a pivotal player in the international cocaine trade. He was sentenced in the Netherlands to 24 years’ imprisonment for drug trafficking. He has also been sentenced in Belgium to a total of 79 years’ imprisonment.
He was placed on Europe's Most Wanted list in 2022. Besides his role in the international drug trade, Leijdekkers is held responsible for ordering the contracted killing of Naima Jillal, a member of the Dutch 'Morocco Mafia' who disappeared in 2019 in Amsterdam.
Images of a body presumed to be Jillal's were found on a phone in the Dutch Marengo court case. Leijdekkers was convicted of ordering the murder and torture of Jillal in 2024.
