{"id":3130,"date":"2025-02-24T19:22:06","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T19:22:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apexnewssl.com\/?p=3130"},"modified":"2025-02-24T19:22:06","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T19:22:06","slug":"after-release-in-sierra-leone-dutch-journalist-breaks-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apexnewssl.com\/?p=3130","title":{"rendered":"After Release In Sierra Leone\u2026 Dutch Journalist Breaks Silence"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>21 February, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sorie Abubakar<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Dutch Journalist, Sophie van Leeuwen, has revealed that she was arrested by Sierra Leone Police while en route to a location where Jos Leijdekkers, one of Europe\u2019s most-wanted drug traffickers was reportedly staying. In an interview with RTL News, van Leeuwen detailed her arrest, interrogation, and eventual release, which she described as a harrowing experience. Van Leeuwen, who was accompanied by Sierra Leonean journalist, Joseph Turay, said: \u201cI was on my way to a location where Jos Leijdekkers \u2013 according to my sources \u2013 was. There I drove into a roadblock. The police saw my Dutch passport and I was immediately arrested.\u201d \u00a0\u201cThey confiscated everything: my passport, phone, and camera. I heard them say, \u2018We\u2019ve got her.\u2019 I was then escorted through Freetown in a truck full of armed men to the police station.\u201d The journalist was interrogated for approximately 15 hours over two days by senior police officials, who accused her of being a \u201cdanger to national security\u201d and suspected her of espionage. \u201cI was put under a lot of pressure,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was not a pleasant experience, though I was not physically abused.\u201d The unit questioning her is reportedly responsible for investigating drug-related crimes in Sierra Leone. Van Leeuwen\u2019s arrest has drawn attention to the alleged presence of Jos Leijdekkers, a 33-year-old Dutch fugitive, in Sierra Leone. Leijdekkers, who was sentenced in absentia to 24 years in prison by a Rotterdam court in June 2023 for smuggling over seven tonnes of cocaine, is believed to have been living in the country for about six months. Reports suggest that his presence may have been facilitated by high-ranking officials, including President Julius Maada Bio, whose daughter is alleged to have a relationship with the convicted drug trafficker. Following her release, van Leeuwen was escorted to Freetown International Airport by her lawyer, Charles Abass Bangura, and left the country on Tuesday evening. Before her departure, she spoke briefly with Ahmed Sahid Nasralla, President of the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), who confirmed that her safety and freedom were the Association\u2019s top priorities. Although Van Leeuwen\u2019s passport, phone, and camera were returned to her through her lawyers, police retained her SD card, citing \u201csecurity reasons.\u201d Chernor Bah, Sierra Leone\u2019s Minister of Information and Civic Education, stated that Van Leeuwen is welcome to return to the country at any time, and emphasized that the police were merely performing their duties. ACP Allieu Jalloh, head of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), claimed that police found \u201ca lot of inconsistencies and deception\u201d in Van Leeuwen\u2019s statements. He added that her release was a government decision.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><u>\u00a0<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>21 February, 2025 Sorie Abubakar Dutch Journalist, Sophie van Leeuwen, has revealed that she was&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3131,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the 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