Julius Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone, speaks at the start of the Transforming Education Summit at United Nations headquarters, 19 September 2022 -

Last updated: 1 hour ago

Sierra Leone

The leader of Sierra Leone's opposition voiced alarm on Monday over alleged links between the west African country and international drug trafficking and organised crime networks.

In an open letter to President Julius Maada Bio, Abdulai Kargbo, leader of the main opposition APC party, pointed to a multi-million-dollar seizure last week of drugs on a ship that had left Sierra Leon's capital, Freetown.

On Thursday, Spanish police said they had seized firearms and 30 tonnes of cocaine worth $700 million from a Comoros-flagged vessel in the Atlantic Ocean.

The ship had departed from the Sierra Leone capital Freetown and was en route to the Mediterranean Sea. Among those arrested were 17 Filipinos, five Dutch nationals and one from Suriname.

Sierra Leonean authorities are investigating the circumstances surrounding the cocaine seizure.

In his letter, seen by AFP, Kargbo said he was writing out of "profound concern and a deep sense of patriotic duty."

He highlighted "alarming and repeated international reports linking Sierra Leone, Sierra Leoneans, our territorial waters, our ports, our borders and persons associated with our country to international narcotics trafficking and organised criminal networks."

"The fact that a heavily armed vessel allegedly connected to international organised crime networks was able to depart Sierra Leonean territory undetected creates serious fears," he said.

Kargbo said the case had strengthened suspicions internationally and at home that "criminal networks may be operating with institutional protection or political influence."

The confirmed presence in Sierra Leone in recent months of Jos Leijdekkers, one of Europe's most wanted drug traffickers, has raised questions about his potential links to the government.

Images showing the Dutchman in the company of high-ranking officials, including Bio, suggest he has been cultivating ties with Freetown's elite.

Europol lists the 34-year-old as a major player in cocaine trafficking.

In 2024, a Rotterdam court sentenced him in absentia to 24 years in prison for organising the transport of almost seven tons of cocaine and ordering a murder.

Swiss NGO the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime describes west Africa as a transit point for cocaine manufactured in Latin America and shipped to consumer countries in Europe.

Sierra Leone opposition warns about drug trafficking links

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