Dutch police have arrested 35 suspects from several countries, including Algeria, after an extraordinary shooting in which a large group of masked gunmen descended on a quiet village in the eastern Netherlands and opened fire on a home.
A 51-year-old security guard was killed in the shooting, and two police officers who responded to the scene were wounded after being caught in crossfire. The attack, captured on security cameras, has been linked in Dutch reports to the country’s increasingly violent drug underworld. Government and police officials described it as an “unprecedented” incident, particularly because of the apparent international makeup of the group involved.
On ‘Chubby Jos’ orders: masked gunmen raid Dutch village
The shooting occurred at about 4 a.m. Tuesday in Overasselt, about 135 kilometers (84 miles) southeast of Amsterdam. Security footage showed what local media described as an “international commando” of dozens of masked people moving through the village, carrying weapons and wearing balaclavas. The group reportedly included Dutch, Belgian, French and Algerian nationals. Later footage showed members of the group fleeing amid what appeared to be gunfire.
According to reports in the Netherlands, the masked assailants are linked to Jos Leijdekkers, a Dutch drug lord considered one of the world’s major cocaine traffickers and widely known by the nickname “Bolle Jos,” or “Chubby Jos.”
The house targeted in the attack, which had also been targeted in an incident last year, belongs to a man who was previously involved in cocaine imports. Reports said he recently received a video in which masked men threatened to kill his relatives and friends unless a massive cocaine shipment allegedly smuggled by Leijdekkers, weighing hundreds of kilograms, was returned.
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Drug kingpin Jos Leijdekkers, known as ‘Chubby Jos.’ Operation to capture him was called off at the last minute
When gunfire erupted outside the house, the property owner’s son reportedly fled through the back door in his underwear while carrying his children. The attackers escaped into nearby fields as police arrived.
Residents were ordered to remain inside for hours amid fears that armed suspects were still roaming the area. Police said suspects were arrested at several locations, including on highways and at Nijmegen railway station. Eight fugitives were captured in a cornfield. Police also seized numerous weapons.
Overasselt Mayor Joerie Minses said the attack had left the village in shock. National police chief Janny Knol and Justice Minister David van Weel described the incident as unprecedented in Dutch history.
A cocaine hub and an increasingly violent underworld
The Netherlands has developed into a major hub for cocaine trafficking, with the drug arriving through large and small ports across the country. The lucrative trade has helped fuel an increasingly violent criminal underworld. Dutch criminal organizations are also major producers of synthetic drugs.
One of the central figures in the country’s cocaine trade is Leijdekkers, 35, who is believed to have links to the gunmen involved in Tuesday’s attack.
From a threatening video sent to the attack’s target
The Dutch-born fugitive maintains close ties with drug networks around the world and has been sentenced in the Netherlands and Belgium to a combined total of more than 100 years in prison and fined 95 million euros for drug trafficking.
Authorities in both countries have struggled to apprehend him. For the past three years, Leijdekkers has lived in the West African nation of Sierra Leone, where he has reportedly received protection. Reports have said he is in a relationship with a daughter of Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio and that the couple have a child.
Leijdekkers, who is believed to have adopted the alias “Omar Sheriff” after moving to Sierra Leone, reportedly lives in a luxury beachfront villa compound, with close security protection and limousine service.
Sierra Leone has become an important link in international drug trafficking routes between South America and Europe, and Dutch authorities have mounted extensive efforts to remove Leijdekkers from the country.
Sierra Leone President Julius Maada Bio
(Photo: AFP)
It emerged last month that Dutch special forces had planned an operation to capture him in May in international waters after learning that he intended to make a rare trip outside Sierra Leone to neighboring Ivory Coast. The covert operation was called off at the last minute for reasons that remain unclear.
Record cocaine seizure intensifies hunt
Efforts to capture Leijdekkers intensified in the spring after Spanish authorities seized 30 metric tons (33 tons) of cocaine, described as the largest single cocaine seizure on record.
Police allege Leijdekkers organized the shipment, which had traveled aboard a vessel from Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital. The Comoros-flagged ship was reportedly supposed to rendezvous at sea with smaller speedboats that would ferry the cocaine to the Spanish coast.
Restrictions on residents in Overasselt were lifted Tuesday evening, hours after the shooting. But dozens of police officers remained in the area Wednesday, searching fields and nearby bushes as a drone circled overhead.
It was not immediately clear what investigators were searching for. Police continued to urge residents to contact authorities if they encountered anyone behaving suspiciously.
Residents who ventured outside Wednesday said they were still reluctant to approach the targeted home. They said that for months they had seen a humanlike mannequin positioned inside a vehicle parked opposite the house’s entrance and were surprised to learn that a real security guard had also been hired to protect the property. He was killed in the attackers’ gunfire.
First published: 19:38, 09.02.26