Dutch authorities are offering a record reward of 2 million euros ($2.2 million) for information leading to the arrest of Jos Leijdekkers, one of Europe's most-wanted drug traffickers, currently hiding in Sierra Leone.

The arrest of Leijdekkers, also known as "Bolle Jos" ("Chubby Jos"), is "the highest priority for the Public Prosecution Service and the police," said Dutch prosecutors in a statement, multiplying by 10 their previous reward.

Leijdekkers is considered to be one of the key players in the international cocaine trade.

A court in Rotterdam sentenced him in absentia in 2024 to 24 years in prison for drug shipments totaling nearly 7,000 kilos of cocaine, an armed robbery, and ordering a "liquidation."

He has also been sentenced to 79 years in prison in Belgium.

Dutch police have tracked the 35-year-old to Sierra Leone. Any information shared with prosecutors will be kept secret, the Dutch authorities said in a statement.

Justice Minister David van Weel said the increase in the reward was "necessary given the threat that Leijdekkers poses to national security, our democratic rule of law, and the international legal order."

"The Netherlands, in cooperation with the international community, is doing everything in its power to secure the arrest of Leijdekkers," the minister said in a letter to parliament.

Links to Sierra Leone

In January 2025, Dutch authorities said they were "absolutely certain" he was hiding out in Sierra Leone. The BBC reported that Dutch prosecutor Wim de Bruin said the fugitive's return to the Netherlands was of "the highest priority."

Images apparently showing Leijdekkers in the company of officials as high as President Julius Maada Bio have sparked speculation that the cocaine baron has cozied up to Sierra Leone's political class — including the president's daughter.

Suspicions that he was in Sierra Leone arose after the country's first lady, Fatima Bio, posted pictures and a video on social media that showed a man strongly resembling Leijdekkers at a religious service, also attended by President Bio.

Leijdekkers is also believed to be involved in the disappearance and death of Naima Jillal, a woman who went missing in 2019 after she got into a car in Amsterdam, according to Europol. Intercepted messages allegedly showed that Leijdekkers "played an important role in Jillal's disappearance," the agency said.

"For a long time, there was no trace of Naima Jillal, until photos of a woman believed to be her were found on a phone seized in the Marengo investigation," Europol said. "The photos show that she was most likely tortured and is probably no longer alive."

In:

• Cocaine
• Netherlands