Because it has been impossible to secure the extradition of convicted drug criminal Jos Leijdekkers from Sierra Leone, the cabinet will attempt to halt European Union development aid to the country. With the help of other European countries, the Netherlands hopes to increase pressure on Sierra Leone in this way.
“It is of course bizarre that we facilitate or support a country that simultaneously offers a safe haven to one of the biggest drug criminals we know worldwide,” said Minister of Justice Van Weel on the TV program Buitenhof .
The EU has 352 million euros in subsidies to Sierra Leone for the period from 2021 to 2027.promised(opens in new window), states the European Commission website. The West African country also benefits from regional and international EU programs.
Eighty years in prison
Van Weel calls the arrest of Jos Leijdekkers, also known as Bolle Jos, one of his top priorities. “We estimate that this man has an income of hundreds of millions of euros per month in a country with a gross national product lower than his income. That is, of course, going to completely corrupt such a country.”
That is why the cabinet wants to remove him from there, the minister says. He also emphasizes that it is time for Leijdekkers to come and serve the eighty-year prison sentence he received in the Netherlands and Belgium combined.
In early May, Van Weel still tried to exert diplomatic pressure on the extradition process by speaking with his counterpart from Sierra Leone. He received the answer he has been hearing for six months, says Van Weel: “Working hard on it, procedures are underway, police report almost finalized.”
The minister has “no illusion” that anything will be set in motion through politics. “So we are looking more broadly.” Through European development funds, therefore.
Drugs from Freetown
In Buitenhof , Van Weel referred to the large drug seizure in the Canary Islands in early May, a record haul of between 30,000 and 45,000 kilos of drugs.
An unprecedentedly large shipment, the minister said about it, which everyone knows was loaded in Freetown [the capital of Sierra Leone]. “When you look at the amount of drugs that came off that ship, it cannot be true that cooperation with this operation was not provided across all levels.”
According to various sources, Leijdekkers is in a relationship with the daughter of President Maada Bio. This could potentially complicate the extradition.
De Telegraaf reported this month that the Netherlands had launched an operation involving special police and navy units to attempt to arrest Leijdekkers at sea in West Africa. That operation was reportedly called off at the last minute. Van Weel declined to comment on this during Buitenhof .
