Mombasa tycoon Ali Punjani, who is being hunted by police over drug trafficking, is so connected that when his arrest was looming, he suddenly flew to India for ‘open heart surgery’.
Reports by a local daily claimed that Mr Punjani was admitted at the Asian Heart Institute in India where he underwent open-heart surgery last week.
His personal assistant Kakawat Pankaj told journalists that Mr Punjani’s lawyers will be at his home in Nyali to allow police officers to search it in the absence of the tycoon.
Ali Badruddin Punjani whose heart surgery is suspecious PHOTO/COURTESY
According to reports, Mr Punjani was referred to India after a check-up at The Heart Lung Diagnostic Centre in Mombasa.
“The above patient (Mr Punjani) was admitted on July 29, 2019, following a heart attack/acute coronary syndrome. An angiogram done showed significant CAD with blocked coronary arteries. This is not amenable with angioplasty and he has been advised to undergo coronary artery bypass grafting urgently. This has been arranged at the Asian Heart Institute for next week,” a letter from the diagnostic centre reads.
The information was released barely hours after detectives from the multiagency team raided his house in Mombasa County in connection to drugs crackdown at the coast.
Ali Punjani palatial home in Nyali, Mombasa
PALATIAL is the word that best describes the home of Mombasa tycoon Ali Punjani.
His home is located a top a cliff and overlooking the Indian Ocean, in the upmarket Nyali. The home can only be accessed through an electrified gate and is guarded 24hours. The only other exit from the home is a door on the ocean front.
The explosive Akasha’s counter plea bargain told our sources that the Akashas did not hesitate to finger their Kenyan partners Ali Punjani and Aharub Ibrahim Khatri whom they described as close business associates, with whom they regularly traded jointly with Asian narco-supplier Vijaygiri Anandgiri Goswami.
Mombasa County Assembly Speaker Aharub Ibrahim Khatri and political godfather Abu Joho, elder brother to Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho PHOTO/COURTESY
Khatri is Punjani former henchman and now Mombasa County Assembly Speaker Aharub Ibrahim Khatri and a close associate of Mombasa Governor Ali Hassan Joho.
The ongoing operation against the drugs menace follows Interior CS Fred Matiang’I declaration that a looming ‘painful period for criminal gangs and drug lords’ was abound in the Coastal city.
Speaker Khatri and Governor Joho. Birds of a feather?
Mr. Punjani whose profile reads a ‘businnessman’ is among those whose name came up during the ongoing criminal trial to suspected Kenyan drug kingpins in New York.
He is known to fly in and out of Kenya incognito
Mombasa tycoon Ali Badrudin Punjani (left) and Mr Abdulsalam Akasha at the Mombasa Law Courts on March 9, 2017. They were facing separate charges of fighting in public
The drug lord was first linked to narcotics by a US Embassy dossier that the then Internal Security minister George Saitoti tabled in Parliament about 11 years ago. Investigations however cleared him of any links with drugs trade before his name resurfaced in an ongoing criminal trial in New York of suspected Kenya drug barons- Akashas, Indian fugitive Vijay Goswami and Gulam Hussein from Pakistan.
Khatri in the early days acting as right hand man for his then boss Ali Badrudin Punjani
Also in the hot soup are several rogue senior police officers who have been aiding the drug barons at the coast. A senior officer in Lamu is being held by detectives in connection with the release of a massive consignment of drugs that had just been nabbed by officers.
Indian Actress Kimi Sharma and Ali Punjani’s second wife PHOTO/COURTESY
Chief Inspector Shadrack Mumo who is the OCS for Kizingitini police station is said to have received a Sh50, 000 bribe to release the haul and the owner, a wanted drug kingpin in the region
Those in the know about his operation style say that he hides during the day and is rarely seen in public only for him to emerge at night mostly from 11pm wearing a kanzu and dark glasses being driven in a Toyota Voxy. His association with owners of Cannon Motors Limited whom he visits frequently is suspecious.
It is imperative to note that importation of drugs is facilitated through importation of motor vehicle spare parts, new vehicles, sugar and other unsuspicious commondities. That is how Punjani became close to Cannon directors.
His sister Nazlin Punjani was married to one of the Shamash Brothers who were involved in importation of illegal sugar and cooling oil in mombasa.
There's no story that cannot be told. We cover the stories that others don't want to be told, we bring you all the news you need. If you have tips, exposes or any story you need to be told bluntly and all queries write to us [email protected] also find us on Telegram
