Record reward offered for capture of fugitive cocaine kingpin nicknamed ‘Chubby Jos’

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

The arrest of Leijdekkers, also known as “Bolle Jos” (“Chubby Jos”), is “the highest priority of the public prosecutor and the police”, Dutch prosecutors said in a statement, increasing their previous reward by 10.

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

A Rotterdam court 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 the order for a “liquidation”.

He was also sentenced to 79 years in prison in Belgium.

Dutch police traced the 35-year-old to Sierra Leone.

Any information shared with prosecutors will be kept secret, Dutch authorities said in a statement.

Links to Sierra Leone

In January 2025, Dutch authorities said they were “absolutely certain” that he was hiding in Sierra Leone. The BBC reported that Dutch prosecutor Wim de Bruin said returning the fugitive to the Netherlands was “the highest priority.”

Footage apparently showing Leijdekkers in the company of officials as high as President Julius Maada Bio has sparked speculation that the cocaine baron has become close 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 photos and a video on social media showing a man strongly resembling Leijdekkers during a religious service, which was also attended by President Bio.

Leijdekkers is also believed to be involved in the disappearance and death of Naima Jillal, a woman who disappeared in 2019 after getting into a car in Amsterdam, according to Europol. The 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 as part of the Marengo investigation,” Europol said. “The photos show that she was most likely tortured and is probably no longer alive.”