French customs officers on Sunday night intercepted a cargo ship carrying several thousand kilograms of cocaine bound from Ghana to the Belgian port of Antwerp.
The vessel was stopped and searched in Dunkirk, France,its final port of call before Antwerp, after authorities acted on specific intelligence rather than a routine check.
According to Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf and Belgian outlet HLN, investigators from the Netherlands and France believe part of the drugs belong to the criminal network of Jos Leijdekkers, better known as “Bolle Jos.” The consignment was destined for a business address in Dordrecht, the Netherlands.
Leijdekkers, a Dutch national, is a major international drug trafficker currently believed to be hiding in Sierra Leone. He remains on the most-wanted lists of both Dutch authorities and Europol. In 2023 the Rotterdam District Court sentenced him in absentia to 24 years in prison for his role in six cocaine shipments totalling almost 7,000 kilograms, among other offences. Both Europol and the Dutch government are offering a reward of €200,000 for information that leads to his arrest.
This seizure is one of several large cocaine intercepts announced by French authorities in recent weeks, a number of which have Dutch connections:
– On 3 September, officers found 347 kg of cocaine (estimated street value €13 million) in a truck driven by a Dutch man in his forties at a rest stop on the A7 motorway in the Drôme region.
– On 27 August, more than 231 kg of cocaine (valued at nearly €6.8 million) was discovered hidden in the ventilation system of a Dutch-plated truck near Dijon.
– On 17 July, officers in the same area recovered over 165 kg of cocaine concealed in the air-conditioning unit of another truck with Dutch plates.
– Earlier incidents included a British truck carrying 109 kg on the A71 near Bourges and another vehicle with 243 kg in the same region.
– Over the weekend of 5–6 September, gendarmes in the Pyrénées-Orientales stopped a three-vehicle convoy from Spain carrying nearly a tonne of cocaine; one driver rammed a police car, slightly injuring two officers.
The Dunkirk interception underscores the continued use of West African ports as transit points for cocaine destined for Europe. With Leijdekkers reportedly still at large in Sierra Leone, the case keeps the spotlight on the country’s role in international drug-trafficking investigations.
