Fugitive Drug King's Bold Move: He Bought a Country

Key Points:

• Jos Leijdekkers, a Dutch fugitive and one of the world's largest cocaine traffickers, has built a $2 billion-a-year drug network, with cocaine bricks stamped "Holly" found globally.
• Operating under the alias "Omar Sheriff," Leijdekkers infiltrated Sierra Leone in 2022, gaining influence from slums to the presidential inner circle and rerouting significant Latin American cocaine trade through the country.
• He reportedly holds a diplomatic passport, finances parts of Sierra Leone's security forces, and has a child with the president's daughter, all while being wanted in Europe for trafficking and suspected murders.
• Sierra Leone's fragile institutions and economic struggles have enabled "narco-capture," with cocaine flows now estimated at a quarter of the country's GDP, complicating law enforcement efforts.
• European attempts to capture Leijdekkers have failed, and he was recently seen openly in Freetown, receiving salutes from officers as he entered a police station.