Netherlands raises reward to €2 million for tip leading to Bolle Jos arrest

Reward raised to €2 million

The Dutch Public Prosecution Service (OM) is raising the reward for a tip leading to the arrest of Jos Leijdekkers, known in the Netherlands as 'Bolle Jos', from €200,000 to €2 million. Justice Minister David van Weel informed parliament of the increase in a letter on Monday morning, 2 November. The new sum is ten times the current reward and the largest the Dutch government has ever offered for a tip. Parliament passed a motion by VVD member Ulysse Ellian in September 2026, allowing the minister himself, not only the OM, to raise the amount. De Telegraaf had leaked the planned increase before the weekend of 31 October and 1 November.

Van Weel told NOS that he mainly hopes people close to the criminal will be tempted to come forward, and he stressed that only a tip leading to an arrest qualifies.

“We want to make the temptation greater for the golden tip”

Ridouan Taghi reward (previous highest)100,000

Previous Leijdekkers reward200,000

New Leijdekkers reward2,000,000

Ridouan Taghi reward (previous highest)

100000 EUR

Previous Leijdekkers reward

200000 EUR

New Leijdekkers reward

2000000 EUR

Data from the article text

Criminal record and whereabouts

Leijdekkers, 35, has been sentenced to 24 years in prison in the Netherlands for cocaine trafficking and a liquidation attempt, NOS reports, and a Belgian court gave him 79 years. His sentences in total exceed 100 years, a figure Het Parool puts at 103. Dutch authorities estimate he made tens of millions of euros from smuggling more than 7 metric tons of cocaine. He is also suspected of money laundering and of involvement in extreme violence, which De Morgen links to the disappearance and death of a woman who got into a car in Amsterdam on 20 October 2019. Volkskrant reports he dropped off the radar in 2022, while De Morgen reports the prosecution service has known since summer 2024 that he lives in Sierra Leone.

Sierra Leone and the stalled extradition

Videos from early 2025 show him in the company of the presidential family and senior officials, according to Volkskrant, and he reportedly has a relationship with the president's daughter. The Netherlands requested his extradition through diplomatic channels, but Sierra Leone has refused to cooperate, and relations between the two countries appear to have worsened, according to Het Parool. Het Parool also reports that he allegedly bribed local power brokers. The president and his wife deny knowing him, and Fatima Bio told the BBC in May that she would not know because she is not a criminal. VRT reports that Dutch intelligence services once planned to arrest him at sea near Sierra Leone, but the operation was called off at the last moment. Rumours have circulated that he sometimes travels to Liberia and Guinea, though these claims remain unconfirmed.

EU aid and how the tip process works

The European Commission is not paying the remaining budget support for this year, worth €18 million, a decision that became known in October according to Volkskrant. The Commission officially cites 'technical errors', while Van Weel says the decision follows from Sierra Leone's lack of cooperation on the Leijdekkers case. Tips can be sent through a special telephone number and email address set up by the OM, which promises that information will not reach Sierra Leonean authorities. The reward goes to a special police team, and a tip has to lead to an arrest, for example by revealing when he travels abroad. The prosecution service said in a statement:

“Anyone who can provide information that leads to Leijdekkers' arrest qualifies for this exceptional reward.”

In Belgium the law does not allow citizens to be paid for tips, though registered informants can be compensated for information.