Europe’s most wanted cocaine kingpin has secured protection in West Africa by fathering a child with the daughter of Sierra Leone’s president, according to opposition figures.
Dutch trafficker Jos Leijdekkers, known as Chubby Jos, has spent more than two years on the run in Sierra Leone while being hunted by European authorities.
The 34-year-old, who faces prison sentences totalling 74 years, is allegedly being shielded by President Julius Maada Bio.
Opposition leader Mohamed Kamarainba Mansaray claims that Agnes Bio, the president’s daughter, gave birth to Leijdekkers’ child in New York.
He accused the Bio government of protecting the Dutch fugitive and blocking efforts to bring him to justice.
Leijdekkers has been seen socialising with the Bio family, including at a New Year’s church service filmed and shared on social media by First Lady Fatima Bio, where he appeared standing two rows behind the president.
Reports that he sat beside the president’s daughter were denied by Bio, who insisted he does not know Leijdekkers.
Footage obtained by Follow the Money and AD also shows Leijdekkers at a private birthday party in March 2024 for Alusine Kanneh, Sierra Leone’s immigration chief, where he presented a gift during the celebration.
Leijdekkers has a €200,000 reward for his capture and reportedly remained in Sierra Leone during the birth, while President Bio visited his daughter and grandchild in New York during the UN General Assembly.
In response to mounting reports, Sierra Leone’s communications ministry issued a statement saying Bio had ‘no knowledge of the identity or the issues detailed’ concerning Leijdekkers.
Convicted multiple times in the Netherlands and Belgium for large-scale cocaine trafficking, Leijdekkers was sentenced in September to eight years in Belgium, bringing his total prison term there to 50 years.
He also faces charges including torture and murder. Last year, he received a 24-year sentence in the Netherlands for his role in six major drug shipments.
Dutch authorities have formally requested his extradition, but the appeal remains unresolved.
Now living under the alias Omar Sheriff, Leijdekkers is believed to be running a vast smuggling network from a fortified compound in Freetown, worth an estimated €1 billion.
The so-called Africa route – used to funnel cocaine into Europe – now accounts for a third of the continent’s supply, a figure expected to rise to half within five years, according to the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime (GI-TOC).
