Dutch gov't will try cutting EU development aid to Sierra Leone over Bolle Jos

Because Sierra Leone is failing to arrest and extradite the convicted Dutch drug criminal Jos Leijdekkers, also known as Bolle Jos, the Dutch government is going to try to halt development aid from the European Union to the West African country. The Cabinet wants other European countries to help increase pressure on Sierra Leone in this way, Minister David van Weel of Justice and Security said on the television program Binnenhof, NOS reports.

The EU has allocated €325 million in subsidies to Sierra Leone for the period 2021 to 2027. The country also benefits from regional and international EU programs.

“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 known worldwide,” Van Weel said. Leijdekkers is facing around 80 years in prison in the Netherlands and Belgium combined for drug trafficking.

In early May, Van Weel tried to exert pressure on the extradition process following diplomatic routes by speaking with his counterpart from Sierra Leone. He received the same answer that the government has been hearing for six months - that Sierra Leone is working on it, and the procedures are underway, he said on Binnenhof. The Minister said he was under “no illusion” that anything would happen through politics. “So we are looking more broadly.”

According to the Justice Minister, arresting Bolle Jos is one of his top priorities and also in Sierra Leone’s interest “In our estimation, 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 will naturally corrupt such a country completely.”

Van Weel talked about the record drug seizure in the Canary Islands in early May, where Spanish authorities intercepted a boat containing between 30,000 and 45,000 kilograms of drugs. Multiple Dutch people were arrested.

The Justice Minister spoke of an unprecedentedly large shipment, which everyone knows was loaded in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. “If 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.”

Bolle Jos is reportedly in a romantic relationship with President Julius Maada Bio’s daughter, which may complicate the extradition.

Last month, the Telegraaf reported that the Netherlands had prepared an operation involving special police and navy forces to arrest Leijdekkers at sea in West Africa, but the operation was called off at the last minute. Van Weel declined to comment on this in Buitenhof.