The European Commission has suspended €18 million in budget support to Sierra Leone, and Dutch Justice Minister David van Weel linked the move to the country's refusal to extradite Jos L., known as "Bolle Jos", a Dutch drug trafficker sentenced to 24 years in the Netherlands and to over a century in prison in Belgium, who is reportedly close to Sierra Leone's leadership. Brussels, however, insists the freeze is a technical matter caused by administrative errors, not a sanction, partly because EU law bars cutting aid over political aims not written into the funding contract; Commissioner Serge Brunner nonetheless said the EU needs Sierra Leone's cooperation. The row shows how the EU is struggling to pressure countries that shelter fugitive crime bosses, as it weighs travel bans and asset freezes while Sierra Leone's government calls public threats "not conducive" to judicial cooperation.