The Antwerp Council Chamber referred nineteen suspects on Monday to the Criminal Court for attempting to steal ten tonnes of cocaine seized by customs. The group includes the notorious Dutch drug criminal ‘Bolle’ Jos Leijdekkers.
On 16 October 2023, customs discovered the cocaine in a container of soybean meal unloaded at quay 1742 in the Port of Antwerp. For practical reasons, the container was moved to a warehouse in Kalmthout, where the drugs were extracted, revealing a total haul of ten tonnes of cocaine.
The following day at around 19:00, the drugs were escorted by police to a customs warehouse in Antwerp awaiting destruction, when armed men appeared at the Kalmthout warehouse.
The gang threatened a man and searched the premises but left without the drugs. The victim alerted the police, who immediately implemented additional security measures.
At around 20:45, the rapid response team intercepted a suspicious van with Dutch number plates at the junction of Noorderlaan and IJzerlaan.
Seven Dutchmen aged between 22 and 35 were arrested, and three handguns were found in the vehicle. The suspects intended to retrieve the seized cocaine and were all taken into custody by the investigating judge. There was also a white van with Belgian plates involved, which was a rental vehicle.
Further investigation in February led to eleven house searches in Aalst, Antwerp, Berchem, Bertem, Evere, Kampenhout, Kortenberg, Machelen and Zaventem.
Nine men aged between 23 and 34 were arrested, with four detained by the investigating judge.
The ongoing judicial investigation identified ‘Bolle’ Jos Leijdekkers as the suspected mastermind and one of the most wanted criminals in the Netherlands. Leijdekkers also features on Europol’s ‘Most Wanted’ list.
The Antwerp Criminal Court recently sentenced him in absentia to ten years in prison and a €200,000 fine for organising the failed extraction of cocaine in the summer of 2020, during which a port security guard was severely injured.
The court also declared criminal assets worth €4.7 million forfeited and ordered his immediate arrest.
