A Dutch court docket on Monday confiscated $112 million in ill-gotten features from one in every of Europe’s most infamous drug lords, regarded as hiding out in Sierra Leone.
The Rotterdam court docket seized the unlawful belongings amassed by Jos Leijdekkers, also called “Bolle Jos” or “Chubby Jos,” from cocaine trafficking and gold purchases — however ignored unproven claims about luxurious items.
“With at the moment’s ruling, the court docket has decided how a lot cash L. (Leijdekkers) earned via legal actions,” the court docket judgment stated. “The full is almost 127 million euros, of which he should pay greater than 96 million euros to the State.”
Leijdekkers didn’t attend the listening to and was not represented by a lawyer. The court docket confirmed that the case was heard in absentia.
Prosecutors had initially sought a record $250 million in legal asset seizures. However the court docket dominated that that they had used too broad a authorized foundation and lowered the quantity, making use of stricter standards and excluding a number of unproven claims.
Europol
Prosecutors stated final month that Leijdekkers had made 114 million euros from 14 cocaine shipments over lower than a yr.
In keeping with intercepted communications, the 34-year-old additionally spent 47 million euros on 975 kilograms of gold over lower than six months.
A Rotterdam court docket final June sentenced Leijdekkers in absentia to 24 years in jail for ordering a homicide and organising cocaine shipments.
He’s on Europol’s most-wanted list, with the European police physique providing over $225,000 for info resulting in his arrest.
In January, Dutch authorities stated they had been “completely sure” he was hiding out in Sierra Leone. The BBC reported that Dutch prosecutor Wim de Bruin stated the fugitive’s return to the Netherlands was of “the very best precedence.”
Photos apparently displaying Leijdekkers within the firm of officers as excessive as President Julius Maada Bio have sparked hypothesis that the cocaine baron has cosied as much as Sierra Leone’s political class — together with the president’s daughter.
Suspicions that he was in Sierra Leone arose after the nation’s first woman, Fatima Bio, posted footage and a video on social media that confirmed a man strongly resembling Leijdekkers at a non secular service, additionally attended by President Bio.
First Girl Fatima Maada Bio by way of Fb/by way of REUTERS 
Exiled Sierra Leone opposition determine Mohamed Mansaray has accused Bio and his authorities of “providing refuge” to the drug lord.
In keeping with Mansaray, Leijdekkers has coupled up with the president’s daughter, Agnes Bio, who’s seen accompanying the drug lord within the photographs.
Leijdekkers can also be believed to be concerned within the disappearance and demise of Naima Jillal, a girl who went lacking in 2019 after she acquired right into a automobile in Amsterdam, according to Europol. Intercepted messages allegedly confirmed that Leijdekkers “performed an necessary function in Jillal’s disappearance,” the company stated.
