(From L-R) Dutch cocaine kingpin Jos Leijdekkers, David van Weel, Netherlands Minister of Justice and Security, Alpha Sesay, Sierra Leone Attorney General & Minister of Justice, Morie Lengor Esq. Sierra Leone Minister of Internal Affairs, Timothy Musa Kabba, Sierra Leone Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Dutch efforts to secure the extradition of Jos Leijdekkers, a Dutch national described in Dutch reports as one of Europe’s most wanted convicted drug traffickers, have met with persistent resistance from Sierra Leonean authorities, resulting in a series of awkward exchanges and growing Dutch frustration. According to Dutch accounts of the interactions, a video call in March between Sierra Leone’s Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Alpha Sesay, Esq., and the Netherlands’ Minister of Justice and Security, David van Weel, did not go as planned: the Dutch claim Sesay turned off his camera for much of the conversation, contributing to what they described as a clumsy and unproductive call.
That video call was just the latest in a series of tense interactions between the two governments. When Sesay visited The Hague for an International Criminal Court member states meeting late last year, Dutch officials took the opportunity to raise the Leijdekkers case directly. The meeting, however, was hampered by scheduling and personnel issues: the ministers most closely involved in the case were on an official state visit to Suriname. At the same time, State Secretary for Justice and Security Arno Rutte led the Dutch delegation.
The Sierra Leonean delegation initially refused a meeting, insisting that the Netherlands come to them. When the conversations did take place, Dutch sources claim they yielded limited results. In the months that followed, Sesay cancelled a planned return trip to the Netherlands and did not reschedule, undermining trust in Sierra Leone’s willingness to cooperate.
Dutch officials claim they have been persistent, pursuing the issue in multiple bilateral fora. Minister van Weel brought up the issue again while in New York for the UN General Assembly, and at a drug-control conference in Ghana, his then-colleague, Minister of Justice Foort van Oosten, discussed it with Sierra Leone’s Minister of Internal Affairs, Morie Lengor. When van Weel was foreign minister, he discussed the case with Sierra Leone’s foreign minister, Timothy Kabba, in December.
After Sierra Leone’s newly appointed ambassador to the Netherlands, Philip Bob Jusu, presented his credentials in January, he and van Weel briefly discussed the situation. Against the backdrop of repeated verbal urgings and ministerial reminders, Dutch officials claim their efforts have shifted away from purely procedural legal requests and toward higher-level political engagement.
The absence of a Dutch embassy in Freetown, as well as the lack of formal mutual legal assistance agreements between the Netherlands and Sierra Leone, has exacerbated the situation.
Because the Netherlands must route formal communications through its embassies in Brussels and Accra, diplomatic and legal channels have been slower and more cumbersome than desired. Sierra Leone initially appeared to respond, with authorities promising to investigate and announcing a nationwide manhunt. However, the Sierra Leonean government quickly offered an alternative explanation, which was confusing, claiming that the person depicted in the circulating images was a local businessman named Umar Sheriff. Following that statement, Freetown’s public communications about the extradition request became sparse.
Dutch officials interpret the pauses, delays, and shifting explanations as evidence of the suspect’s high level of protection in Sierra Leone. Sierra Leonean ministers, for their part, have repeatedly stated that their authority to order an arrest is limited, claiming that arrest decisions must ultimately be approved by the Ministry of Internal Affairs or even the president, Julius Maada Bio. These constraints, the Dutch argue, have transformed their campaign into a political as well as a legal one.
Over the last year, persistent Dutch ministerial engagement—from The Hague to New York and Ghana—has attempted to maintain pressure on Freetown.
However, with no mutual legal frameworks, embassy gaps, and mutual distrust evident in public and private exchanges, the path to resolving the matter and moving forward with extradition appears uncertain. Dutch officials are increasingly sceptical that repeated reminders and bilateral meetings will result in substantive cooperation unless Sierra Leone’s leadership takes clearer, higher-level action.
