Turkish intelligence and police detained the brother of Dutch fugitive drug trafficker Joseph Johannes Leijdekkers in İstanbul in an operation linked to Spain’s seizure of more than 30 tons of cocaine from a cargo ship allegedly operated by Turkish shipowners, Gazete Pencere reported on Tuesday.
Wilhelmus Adrianus Leijdekkers, 51, was detained in the Pendik district of İstanbul on May 16 in a joint operation by the National Intelligence Organization (MIT), İstanbul police intelligence units and narcotics police, the Demirören news agency reported. Dutch authorities had sought him on an INTERPOL Red Notice on money laundering allegations.
Gazete Pencere reported Monday, citing security sources, that the operation was related to the May 1 seizure by Spain’s Guardia Civil of cocaine aboard the Arconian, a Comoros-flagged cargo ship that had left West Africa for the Mediterranean. The outlet said the ship was operated by Turkish shipowners identified only by the initials A.D. and A.H.
Spanish authorities put the official weight of the cocaine at 30,215 kilograms, packed in 1,279 bundles. The Guardia Civil described it as the largest cocaine seizure in the history of anti-drug operations from a single ship.
Some Turkish reports described the cargo as about 40 tons, but Spanish authorities and court reporting put the confirmed weight at just over 30 tons.
The Arconian had sailed from West Africa toward the Mediterranean before Spanish units boarded it south of the Canary Islands on May 1. The Guardia Civil said the operation targeted a shipment linked to the Mocro Maffia, a Dutch-based criminal network accused of moving large amounts of cocaine into Europe.
Spanish authorities said the ship was to be met at sea by high-speed boats that would collect the cocaine. Officers found the drug hidden in a portside corridor running along the vessel and found more than 42,000 liters of gasoline in the opposite corridor, apparently intended for the boats that would pick up the cargo.
The raid led to the detention of 23 people. Spanish authorities said six armed men, equipped with assault rifles and pistols, had been guarding the cocaine to prevent rival groups from stealing it.
Gazete Pencere reported that the cocaine was to be dropped near Sicily and collected by smaller boats before the Arconian was intercepted off the Canary Islands. The outlet said the cargo belonged to an international consortium that included Joseph Leijdekkers, known in the Netherlands as “Bolle Jos.”
The alleged Turkish shipowner link has not been confirmed in the public statements from Spanish authorities. Spanish reports identify the Arconian’s registered owner as Serenity Shipping SL Ltd, a company based in Freetown, Sierra Leone. El País reported that the company acquired the vessel on February 2.
Dutch police describe Joseph Johannes Leijdekkers as one of the key figures in international cocaine trafficking. A Rotterdam court sentenced him in absentia in June 2024 to 24 years in prison for six drug transports totaling more than 7,000 kilograms of cocaine, a violent robbery in Finland and ordering a murder, according to Dutch police.
Dutch police said he remains at large and that prosecutors have offered a 200,000 euro reward for information leading to his arrest. They also said he is being investigated in other cases, including the disappearance of Naima Jillal, a woman who vanished in Amsterdam in 2019.
Reuters reported in January 2025 that Leijdekkers had been living in Sierra Leone and that sources said he had high-level protection there. Photos and video verified by Reuters showed him at a church service in Sierra Leone on January 1, 2025, seated two rows behind President Julius Maada Bio. Reuters said he was sitting next to a woman whom three sources identified as Bio’s daughter Agnes and said was married to him, though Reuters could not independently confirm the relationship.
Sierra Leone’s information ministry said at the time that the government was investigating the reports and that the president had no knowledge of the man’s identity, Reuters reported.
The İstanbul operation also revived scrutiny of Turkey’s earlier handling of the Leijdekkers network.
Turkish authorities carried out operations in 2023 against people accused of links to Joseph Leijdekkers’s organization. Wilhelmus Adrianus Leijdekkers was previously detained in Turkey in 2024, later released and then sought again in the same file.
Suspects released by the İstanbul 15th High Criminal Court later fled after prosecutors objected and another court issued arrest warrants. The judges who ordered the releases were later suspended over bribery allegations, according to Turkish media reports.
The Arconian case is the second major Atlantic cocaine seizure this year with a reported Turkey connection.
In January Spanish authorities seized 9,994 kilograms of cocaine from the United S, a vessel intercepted off the Canary Islands. Turkish prosecutors later opened an investigation after learning that four Turkish citizens were among 13 crew members detained in Spain.
Ten suspects linked to the United S case were later arrested in Turkey, including Çetin Gören, whom Turkish media identified as the vessel’s owner. Spanish police said the cocaine had been hidden in 294 packages inside a shipment of salt.
The latest case comes amid criticism that Turkey has become a transit, residence or business base for foreign organized crime figures. The government says recent operations show that Turkish security agencies are pursuing international criminal networks, while critics point to repeated cases in which foreign suspects were able to live in Turkey, acquire assets or leave custody before new arrest warrants were issued.