Bolle Jos network behind record cocaine seizure, report finds

The record seizure of more than 30 tonnes of cocaine off the coast of West Africa in May was most likely coordinated by the network of Dutch drugs baron Jos “Bolle Jos” Leijdekkers, and was one of at least eight similar shipments since 2024, a new report has found.

The study, by the Geneva-based research group Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime (GI-TOC), concludes that the haul aboard the cargo ship Arconian was not an isolated event but part of an established smuggling route running from Sierra Leone to Europe.

Spanish authorities intercepted the vessel off Western Sahara on May 1, in what investigators called the largest single cocaine seizure on record. On board were 17 Filipino crew and six armed men – five Dutch and one Surinamese – several with previous cocaine-trafficking and money-laundering charges in the Netherlands.

An established network

The report said that at least since 2024 small cargo ships have left Freetown or nearby waters on near-identical routes, then lingering off Morocco, the Canary Islands and the Spanish coast before heading for North African ports.

The drugs were transferred at sea to speedboats that brought them ashore without passing through ports, which allowed large volumes to reach Europe undetected. The Arconian was carrying more than 42,000 litres of fuel intended for those smaller boats.

The report names Leijdekkers, who has lived in Sierra Leone since 2022, as the likely coordinator, saying his network provided logistics and probably owned part of the cargo.

Pressuring Sierra Leone

He was sentenced in absentia in 2024 to 24 years for large-scale cocaine smuggling and ordering a murder, and is the Netherlands’ most wanted criminal. He has not been charged over the Arconian shipment.

The findings add to pressure on Sierra Leone, where Leijdekkers is reported to be close to the family of president Julius Maada Bio, and where the Dutch government is pushing the EU to cut development aid over his presence.

Dutch marines and police special forces twice came close to seizing him off the West African coast in May, according to De Telegraaf, but both attempts were called off.