Gun battle leaves one dead in Dutch village 'linked to notorious drug lord Fat Jos' after armed men attack house then open fire on cops

A gun battle has left one person dead and two police officers injured after a group of heavily armed men attacked a house in a Dutch village before opening fire on cops.Authorities have arrested 34 people following the pre-dawn shootout in Overasselt, which local media have linked to notorious drug lord Jos Leijdekkers, who is also known as 'Fat Jos'. Police urged residents to stay indoors with their doors and windows shut amid fears further suspects could still be on the loose. A group of heavily armed men wearing balaclavas approached a house in the village at around 4am on Tuesday before shots were fired. A 51-year-old security guard was killed in the violence, according to reports.Police officers who rushed to the scene immediately came under fire, with two suffering injuries that were not life-threatening, police spokesperson Jolanda Aalbers said. Officers also seized several weapons, data storage devices and vehicles following the shootout. Local media reported that the violence was likely connected to the criminal underworld of Leijdekkers. A gun battle has left one person dead and two police officers injured after a group of heavily armed men attacked a house in a Dutch village before opening fire on cops The police's Special Intervention Unit raided a vacant home in Overasselt, Gelderland Authorities have arrested 34 people following the pre-dawn shootout in Overasselt, which local media have linked to notorious drug lord Jos Leijdekkers (pictured), who is also known as 'Fat Jos'Leijdekkers is one of the Netherlands' most wanted criminals and has previously been convicted over his role in international cocaine trafficking.He has lived in Sierra Leone for at least three years and is said to be in a relationship with the daughter of the country's president, Julius Maada Bio.Dutch newspaper Het Parool reported that the gun battle stemmed from a dispute over several hundred kilograms of cocaine thought to have been trafficked by Leijdekkers' gang.Deputy chief prosecutor Monique Vinkesteijn said there had also been a shooting at the same house last year linked to a 'longstanding conflict', but did not provide further details.'We know that the group currently in custody is international in nature,' Vinkesteijn said.'It includes French and Belgian nationals, people from Algeria, and also individuals from the Netherlands.'Prosecutors said the suspects faced a range of potential charges, from murder and manslaughter to preparing a kidnapping, and warned that further arrests could follow.Local mayor Joerie Minses said the community had been left shocked by the extreme violence.'What happened in Overasselt crosses all boundaries. This is un-Dutch,' he said.'Overasselt has been shocked by a form of extreme violence that is totally unacceptable.'The violence comes as Leijdekkers, 35, remains at the centre of an international manhunt.The Dutch cocaine baron has spent the past few years living in Sierra Leone, where he is believed to be married to the daughter of the country's president, Julius Maada Bio, and the couple are said to have a child together.Leijdekkers is said to live in a clutch of upmarket beach villas at the Two Seasons resort on Tokeh Beach and travel on the 20-minute drive to the capital Freetown in a blacked-out Mercedes, escorted by his own motorcade.Liejdekkers is safely out of reach for the Dutch law enforcement and living with impunity in Sierra Leone's capital Freetown Leijdekkers raised eyebrows in Sierre Leone by attending a New Year's church service with Agnes Bio (circled left) with Maada Bio, President of Sierra Leone (circle right) Liejdekkers reportedly calls this home - the palm-fringed resort of Two Seasons on Tokeh Beach in Sierra Leone where he is understood to have purchased two villasHe has been photographed with the President's daughter, Agnes Bio, 31, as well as on the fringes of a nightclub brawl.Leijdekkers has adopted the pseudonym Omar Sheriff, but is widely known as 'Bolle' Jos, Dutch for chubby.Though he is on the run from Dutch and Belgian authorities, who have sentenced him to more than 100 years in his absence, in Freetown he apparently has little to fear.Last month, news emerged of a dramatic attempt by Dutch special forces to seize him in international waters when he was believed to be planning a rare trip by sea to nearby Ivory Coast. The top-secret mission was aborted twice at the 11th hour, although whether because of a leak or a change in Leijdekkers' plans is not clear. Sierra Leone is now a pivotal link in the international drugs trade between South America and Europe and some believe that, under Leijdekkers' influence, the former British colony risks becoming a 'narco state'. The Netherlands has been intensifying its legal and political efforts to flush him out of Sierra Leone. The campaign to 'Get Jos' gained fresh impetus this May after Spain's Civil Guard seized more than 30 tons of cocaine, the largest single seizure of the drug in history, from a cargo ship organised, police say, by Leijdekkers himself. The Comoros-flagged Arconian was intercepted in international waters after leaving Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital and biggest port, with an illicit drugs cargo worth an estimated £700million.The ship was due to meet smaller speedboats at sea that would have distributed the drugs towards the Spanish coast in a delivery said to have been personally arranged by Leijdekkers.Leijdekkers, born in Holland, has close ties with drugs networks around the world and has been sentenced in his absence to more than 100 years in Holland and Belgium and handed a record £82million fine for drug trafficking.His links to Sierra Leone's ruling family emerged after he and Agnes Bio were videoed sitting just two rows behind President Julius Maada Bio and First Lady Fatima Maada Bio at a New Year's Day thanksgiving service in January 2025.Initial reports that the wanted criminal was seeing his daughter were denied by President Bio, who insisted he did not know Leijdekkers.Footage obtained by Dutch media also shows Leijdekkers at a private birthday party in March 2024 for Alusine Kanneh, Sierra Leone's immigration chief, where he presented a gift during the celebration. Liejdekkers is believed to have been the brains behind this recent attempt to export £700million worth of cocaine into Spain on a freight ship called 'Arconian' Guardia Civil Spanish police pulled up to the Arconian for cocaine seizure. The ship was due to meet smaller speedboats that would have distributed the drugs towards the Spanish coast Pictured: An agent marks the bales of cocaine during the counting of the stash, in Las Palmas de Gran CanariaUS magazine New Lines discovered that Leijdekkers had recently taken legal control of the villas at Two Seasons through a Lebanese business associate.The article into Leijdekkers' life in Freetown painted a picture of a man frequenting nightclubs and casinos accompanied by his driver and bodyguards, always teetotal, but also flush with cash, bestowing tips of '$500 to $1,000 for all the staff each time he visited'.Such amounts are unheard of in Sierra Leone, where the average monthly wage hovers somewhere between $40 and $150. In Freetown, the convicted Dutch criminal Leijdekkers reportedly moves freely around with his own security detail and gave expensive imported 4x4s and limousines to several of the most influential ministers. His organisation's turnover has been estimated at up to £145million per month, or £1.7billion a year, by the Dutch Public Prosecution Service.By 2019, he was operating at the centre of an international cocaine network moving consignments through the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp.Intercepted Sky Encrochat messages gave investigators an extraordinary insight into the scale of the operation and, prosecutors say, Leijdekkers' position as one of its principal organisers.The Dutch Public Prosecution Service has calculated that he derived at least £190million in unlawful benefit from his criminal activities. According to prosecutors, encrypted communications revealed that Leijdekkers bought an astonishing 975kg of gold, paying more than £40million for it in less than six months. More recently, prosecutors have identified apartments in Dubai belonging to him and associates at the Grandeur Residences on the Palm Jumeirah.Two Bentleys and a Rolls-Royce were also among assets allegedly connected to Leijdekkers' family.