By Alusine Sesay
The alleged drug baron in the midst of the president and other top government officials
The pattern of drug related cases involving citizens and some top government officials in Sierra Leone is raising series of questions as to whether the country is gradually becoming a hub for drug trafficking in the West African Sub-Region.
The fact that government is yet to comment or take action on the recent saga linking the President’s daughter to a cocaine convict, who according to Reuters, is enjoying high level protection in Sierra Leone, further raises another question.
The recent report brought serious embarrassment not only to the presidency, but the country as whole.
The Reuters report came in the wake of a serious scandal in which a Sierra Leone embassy vehicle was caught loaded with cocaine in Neighbouring Guinea. The Guinean Junta regime granted the Sierra Leone Ambassador to Guinea a persona non grata.
Jos Leijdekkers, a Dutch national, according to Reuters, was sentenced in absentia to 24 years in prison on June 25 by a Rotterdam court for smuggling more than 7 tonnes of cocaine. Dutch police have said he was believed to be living in Turkey until recently.
Reuters states in their report that videos and photos of a church mass in Sierra Leone on January 1, 2025 showed Leijdekkers, sitting two rows behind Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio, next to a woman.
Reuters identified Leijdekkers by using five different facial recognition tools to compare the man at the church, as seen in a video and images on Facebook and in another video on YouTube, with photos of Leijdekkers released by Europol in 2022. The tools all determined they were a match, ranging between 82 – 98% confidence.
The three sources, according to Reuters, said the woman was Bio’s daughter Agnes, although they could not confirm the relationship.
This is not the first time family members of the president have been associated with drug related cases. Last year, the Sierra Leone Police conducted a raid at the residence of Admire Bio, President Bio’s younger sister, after rumours intensified that she was one of the key suppliers of the killer kush drugs in Sierra Leone. After the raid, police informed the public that they didn’t find any drug in the said home.
There have been several suspected cases of drug trafficking in Sierra Leone, but in all of that, the state has been playing smart. Last year, there was a report about a forty feet container suspected to have been loaded with drugs, but after police investigation, it was revealed that the said container was loaded with assorted chicken.
Also, on September 20,2024, a mysterious plane landed at the Lungi International Airport without permission. The said plane, which was claimed to have taken off from Liberia, had four crew members, including three Mexicans and one Spaniard. After investigations by state authorities, the crew members were fined in the sum of one hundred thousand United States Dollars and allowed to go.
Recently also, a mini submarine was seen abandoned at John Obey in the Peninsular, but police investigations concluded that there was nothing of security interest, while the owners of the said submarine are yet to be established.
