On 1 January 2025, the First Lady of Sierra Leone posted a video of a New Year’s Mass in the president’s hometown.
Two rows behind the president sat one of the most wanted men in Europe.
His name is Jos Leijdekkers. In the Netherlands, they call him Bolle Jos.
A Dutch court had sentenced him in absentia to 24 years in prison for cocaine trafficking and ordering a murder. Belgium convicted him too, for cocaine moved through the port of Antwerp. Dutch prosecutors said he earned €114 million from 14 shipments in under a year.
He fled Europe in 2020. He did not go into hiding. He went shopping.
According to an investigation by The Economist, he spent five years turning Sierra Leone into a transit hub for Colombian cocaine bound for Europe, hidden in cargoes of rice and plantain chips. The Economist reports that the proceeds reached members of the political elite and helped fund parts of the state.
What he got in return, according to the same investigation: a Sierra Leonean diplomatic passport. Protection from elements of the security services. At times, travel alongside presidential security personnel.
Dutch broadcaster RTL reports that he bought into mines and real estate, and that billions in drug money now flow through the local economy every year.
Then there is the woman sitting next to him in church.
Her name is Agnes Bio. She is the president’s daughter and a diplomat at the United Nations. Three sources told Reuters the two are married. RTL reports they have a child together. She did not respond to Reuters.
In May 2026, Spanish police seized around 30 tonnes of cocaine from a ship that had left Freetown. Investigators suspect Leijdekkers. No court has established it.
The Netherlands has asked for him back. There is no extradition treaty. A €200,000 reward for his arrest remains unclaimed. This autumn, the Dutch justice minister said the EU was cutting part of its aid to Sierra Leone over the refusal. The EU disputed that account.
The Economist asked the president’s office, the police and the army to comment. None replied.
Europe offered €200,000 for him. Sierra Leone offered him a seat behind the president.
That is not a conspiracy theory. That is the First Lady’s own video.
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Leijdekkers did not need to hide. He needed a country with no extradition treaty and people willing to be paid. That model is older than cocaine. The book maps how it works, from where the money is made to where it finally hides. Dark Money: How Wealth, Power, and Intelligence Really Work.
The Dark Money Letter is published every Wednesday and Sunday. → thedarkmoneyletter.com
Sources
Rotterdam District Court, judgment in absentia against Jos Leijdekkers, June 2024
Reuters, “European cocaine kingpin has high level protection in Sierra Leone,” January 2025
The Economist, investigation into Jos Leijdekkers in Sierra Leone, September 2026
RTL Nieuws, on Leijdekkers’ drug money in Sierra Leone, October 2026
Le Monde, on the cocaine seizure aboard the Arconia, 2026
Europol, Europe’s Most Wanted list