A convicted drugs kingpin believed to be in hiding in Sierra Leone has been ordered to pay €96 million to the Dutch state in the country’s biggest ever proceeds of crime case.
The sum is much less than the €221 million that prosecutors had demanded from Jos Leijdekkers, known as “Bolle Jos” (chunky Jos), who was sentenced to 24 years in jail in his absence last year.
A judge in Rotterdam found that Leijdekkers had imported “large consignments” of cocaine which he paid for in cash, as well as buying 150kg of gold.
Prosecutors also wanted to confiscate items including an apartment, expensive watches and a family car, but the court said it had not been proven that these were funded by criminal earnings.
Leijdekkers is the Netherlands’ most wanted criminal, with a reward of €200,000 prromised to anyone who provides information leading to his capture.
He has also been sentenced to seven years in jail in Belgium after a court in Antwerp found him guilty of importing at least 100kg of cocaine through the North Sea port.
Earlier this year images were circulated of the 33-year-old attending a church service in Sierra Leone, which has no extradition treaty with the Netherlands. Leijdekkers is also believed to be close to the country’s president, Julius Maada Bio, and his family.
Bio fired the head of his immigration service after Dutch media published a video of Leijdekkers partying with some of the country’s top civil servants in February.
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