Sierra Leone president denies knowing wanted Dutch criminal Bolle Jos
President Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone says he does not know who Jos Leijdekkers is. The Dutch criminal known as Bolle Jos was tracked down in Sierra Leone after he was spotted in a video recorded by Bio’s wife sitting next to the president’s daughter, sources told Reuters.
Bolle Jos was filmed attending a New Year’s mass in Bio’s birth village, NOS reports. The president and his wife were sitting two rows in front of the convicted Dutch drug trafficker. Three anonymous sources told Reuters that the woman sitting next to Leijdekkers is the president’s daughter. Unconfirmed reports say the two are married to each other.
Last year, a Dutch court sentenced Leijdekkers in absentia to 24 years in prison for involvement in drug trafficking and ordering assassinations. There is a reward of 200,000 euros for information leading to his arrest. He is on the list of most wanted criminals in Europe.
“The President is not aware of the identity of the person in question,” Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Information said in a statement. The Ministry stressed that President Bio attended numerous public gatherings around the holidays and recordings were made everywhere.
It also said that the Sierra Leone government has never communicated with any country about Leijdekkers, but the police promise full cooperation with Interpol and the Dutch authorities.
The Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) announced last week that Leijdekkers was in Sierra Leone. It is unclear whether the Netherlands requested extradition. The two countries don’t have an extradition treaty.
