The Netherlands Public Prosecution Service has increased the reward for the crucial tip leading to the arrest of Jos Leijdekkers to two million euros (2.000.000 euros). The Dutch investigative authorities have known since mid-2024 that the 35-year-old fugitive resides in Sierra Leone. The arrest of Leijdekkers is top priority to the Public Prosecution Service and the Netherlands Police. This exceptional reward is available to any person who can provide the crucial tip leading to Leijdekkers’ arrest.
Jos Leijdekkers is one of Europe’s most wanted fugitives. In Sierra Leone, he is also known by the name of ‘Omar Sheriff’. Leijdekkers is considered to be a key player in international cocaine trafficking. On 25 June 2024, the Court of Rotterdam sentenced him to 24 years imprisonment for six drugs transports containing a total quantity of nearly 7000 kilos of cocaine, an armed robbery in Finland, and for commissioning a murder. As part of the judgment, the Court ordered the immediate imprisonment of Leijdekkers. Additionally, the police are still investigating other cases Leijdekkers is suspected of being involved in. On top of this, Leijdekkers was also sentenced to 79 years imprisonment in Belgium.
2.000.000 euros
The Dutch Ministry of Justice has agreed to increase the previous reward of 200.000 euros tenfold. This means that a 2.000.000 euro reward is now being offered for the crucial tip leading to Leijdekkers’ arrest. The reward can be paid out within several days after his arrest.
The reward is offered to the person who makes the arrest of Leijdekkers possible, for example by disclosing when he plans to travel and when there will be opportunities to arrest him, possibly because he has temporarily left Sierra Leone.
You can provide your information on Jos Leijdekkers to a special team of the Netherlands Police. Their channels provide a safe way to do so, and the information may be provided by any means and in any language.
Your identity and the information you provide will be kept strictly confidential and will not be disclosed to anyone else, including other police teams or the Sierra Leonean authorities. This ensures that your anonymity remains protected.
The Netherlands Police’s National Investigations & Special Operations leads the search for Leijdekkers in collaboration with other police units and national and international partners. The National Prosecutors Office is supervising the investigation.
Large-scale drugs trafficking and money laundering
Jos Leijdekkers is considered to be a key player in international cocaine trafficking. In its judgment, the Court of Rotterdam included a calculation showing that Leijdekkers must have earned a minimum of tens of millions of euros from cocaine trafficking. The 7000 kilos of cocaine seized that led to his conviction likely constitutes only a small portion of all cocaine trafficked by him. Encrypted messages intercepted from the Sky-ECC platform provided a glimpse into his leading role in international cocaine trafficking. Additionally, these messages revealed that Leijdekkers has likely been laundering tens of millions of euros and hundreds of kilos of gold; assets that are thought to have been gained through cocaine trafficking.
Extreme violence
Leijdekkers is also suspected of involvement in the use of extreme violence including in the disappearance and death of Naima Jillal, a Dutch woman who went missing on 20 October 2019 after she got into a car in Amsterdam. Intercepted encrypted messages revealed that Leijdekkers played an important role in Jillal’s disappearance. For a long time, there was no trace of Naima Jillal; then photos of a woman believed to be her were found on a phone seized in the Marengo investigation. On the basis of these photos, it is believed she was likely tortured and is no longer alive.
Will you help us arrest Jos Leijdekkers and lay claim to the reward of two million euros? Do you have information about Leijdekkers’ travel movements and whereabouts, for example when he has temporarily left Sierra Leone? Can you inform us of potential opportunities to arrest him? Please contact the special team of the Netherlands Police via (mail address) or on +31 6 38 88 44 93. Providing information through these channels is safe and can be done by any means and in any language. Your identity will be kept strictly confidential and will not be disclosed to anyone outside this special team, including other police teams or the Sierra Leonean authorities. This ensures that your anonymity remains protected.
