The government of Sierra Leone is actively bribing and threatening local journalists to stop them from publishing about wanted Dutch drug trafficker Jos Leijdekkers, also known as Bolle Jos, several reporters in hiding told De Telegraaf.
According to the journalists, government officials have offered them sums of up to 5,000 euros – an unprecedented amount by the standards of the African country. Reporters who refuse the bribe receive threats, also targeting their families. According to the journalists, this shows how important it is for those in power to cover up the government’s connection to Bolle Jos.
“There is no freedom of the press in our country,” one journalist told the newspaper from the United States, where he has applied for political asylum. “Our government, including the president, facilitates the criminal group to which Leijdekkers belongs. Journalists no longer dare to write about the matter. It is extremely dangerous.”
Leijdekkers has been sentenced to 24 years in prison in the Netherlands for cocaine trafficking, and more investigations are ongoing against him. According to the Dutch authorities, he imported tens of thousands of kilograms of cocaine into the Netherlands and committed violent crimes associated with drug smuggling, including kidnapping and murder. He was also recently sentenced to 13 years in prison in Belgium.
The Dutch drug baron’s presence in Sierra Leone was confirmed when he was spotted attending the same New Year’s mass as the country’s president, sitting next to a woman said to be the president’s daughter. He was later also recorded partying with top Sierra Leone officials.
The Netherlands has made several diplomatic and legal assistance requests to get their hands on Bolle Jos. To date, the Sierra Leone government has barely responded, according to the newspaper.
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