Dutch authorities issue €2M bounty for Europe's most-wanted drug fugitive

Dutch prosecutors are offering a record €2 million ($2.2 million) reward for information leading to the arrest of convicted cocaine kingpin Jos Leijdekkers, one of Europe's most-wanted fugitives, the authorities said on Monday.

Leijdekkers is a Dutch national who has been living in Sierra Leone for the past years, the Dutch prosecution service said. Prosecutors have demanded his extradition, but Sierra Leone has refused to cooperate, prompting the European Union to cut some aid to the West African country.

The reward, the highest bounty ever offered by the Dutch authorities, is available to any person who provides the crucial tip leading to Leijdekkers' arrest, prosecutors said in a statement. They added that Leijdekkers, who is known in the Netherlands as Bolle Jos or Chubby Jos, is a key player in international cocaine trafficking. According to police, Leijdekkers also goes by the name of Omar Sherrif in Sierra Leone.

The 35-year-old was sentenced in absentia to 24 years in prison by a Dutch court last year for smuggling more than 7 metric tons of cocaine and is also the subject of several ongoing police investigations in the Netherlands. In neighboring Belgium a court sentenced him to 79 years in prison.

Dutch authorities estimate Leijdekkers has made tens of millions of euros from cocaine smuggling. He is also suspected of money laundering and involvement in the use of extreme violence, they said.

($1 = 0.8846 euros)