Turkey has extradited the older brother of fugitive Dutch drug trafficker Joseph Johannes Leijdekkers, known as Bolle Jos, to the Netherlands after Turkish authorities detained him in İstanbul last month on a Dutch request.
The suspect was identified in Dutch media as 50-year-old Harry L. and in Turkish reports as Wilhelmus Adrianus Leijdekkers. He is suspected by Dutch prosecutors of laundering proceeds from international cocaine trafficking.
The Dutch Public Prosecution Service said the suspect was arrested by Turkish authorities in İstanbul on May 17 and returned to the Netherlands on Tuesday. Dutch media reported that he arrived at Schiphol Airport under escort by the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee and was taken into custody on Dutch soil.
He is expected to appear before an investigating judge on Friday.
Dutch prosecutors say intercepted Sky ECC messages show the suspect helped launder criminal proceeds by handling millions of euros in cash, gold and luxury watches.
Dutch Justice and Security Minister David van Weel welcomed the extradition, calling it “good news” in the fight against organized crime. He said the case concerns the laundering of proceeds from large-scale international drug trafficking.
Turkish media reported on May 17 that the National Intelligence Organization (MİT), İstanbul police intelligence units and narcotics police detained Wilhelmus Adrianus Leijdekkers in the Pendik district of İstanbul after determining that he was wanted by Dutch authorities on an INTERPOL Red Notice.
Turkish reports said he was sought on charges of laundering assets derived from crime and was accused of working with the cocaine trafficking organization led by his brother.
The case has drawn attention in Turkey because the suspect had been detained in earlier operations targeting the same network before his eventual extradition.
Turkey’s pro-government Türkiye daily reported that Turkish authorities carried out operations in June 2023 against alleged members of the Leijdekkers network hiding in Turkey, detaining 34 people and seizing assets worth 1.1 billion lira.
Some suspects, including Wilhelmus Adrianus Leijdekkers, were later released during trial proceedings, according to the report. Prosecutors objected, and the İstanbul 16th High Criminal Court issued new arrest warrants for several suspects, but they had already fled.
The chief judge and members of the İstanbul 15th High Criminal Court panel that released 15 suspects facing prison sentences of up to 82 years were later suspended by the Board of Judges and Prosecutors over bribery allegations.
Joseph Johannes Leijdekkers, the younger brother of the extradited suspect, is one of Europe’s most wanted fugitives. Dutch police say the Rotterdam District Court sentenced him in absentia on June 25, 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.
Dutch police say they are also investigating him in connection with other serious crimes, including the disappearance of Naima Jillal, a woman who vanished in Amsterdam in 2019 and is believed to have been tortured and killed.
The Dutch Public Prosecution Service has offered a 200,000 euro reward for information leading to Leijdekkers’s arrest.
Dutch police had long believed that Leijdekkers may have lived in Turkey, but Dutch prosecutors said in January 2025 that he was living in Sierra Leone. Reuters reported the same month, citing sources, photos and video, that Leijdekkers had found refuge and high-level protection in the West African country.
Reuters also reported that Leijdekkers had been seen at a church service in Sierra Leone on January 1, 2025, sitting near President Julius Maada Bio. Three sources told Reuters that he was married to Bio’s daughter Agnes, but Reuters said it could not independently confirm the relationship.
The Netherlands has asked Sierra Leone to extradite Leijdekkers. Van Weel said this week that the Dutch government would seek to halt European Union development aid to Sierra Leone because of what he described as the country’s failure to arrest and extradite him.
The pressure on Sierra Leone intensified after Spanish authorities seized a record cocaine shipment from the Comoros-flagged cargo ship Arconian in early May.
Spanish authorities said they seized about 30 tons of cocaine from the ship off the Canary Islands in an operation carried out with support from Dutch and US authorities. The ship had departed Sierra Leone and was headed toward Libya, according to Spanish and Dutch reporting.
Spanish authorities said the cocaine was to be transferred at sea to smaller boats for delivery to Europe. They detained 23 people, including armed guards accused of protecting the cargo.
Dutch officials have linked the shipment to the Mocro Maffia, a Dutch-based criminal network involved in cocaine trafficking. Dutch media and Turkish reports have also linked the shipment to the Leijdekkers network.
The extradition of Leijdekkers’s brother comes as Turkey faces scrutiny over the presence of foreign organized crime figures in the country. Turkish authorities say recent operations show growing cooperation against international crime networks, while critics say repeated cases have shown how foreign suspects were able to live in Turkey, acquire assets or leave custody before new arrest warrants were issued.