This archive report was first published on 13 August 2019.
On Monday, police arrested Mombasa County Assembly member Ahmed Salama, the Bofu Ward representative, over drug trafficking allegations. The arrest came hours after he attended a meeting with Interior Cabinet Secretary Fred Matiang'i, who had convened the gathering to discuss combating the drug menace in the region.
Seventeen people were also arrested in the operation aimed at nabbing politicians and businessmen suspected to be behind the narcotics trade. The police also raided the palatial home of Mombasa tycoon Ali Punjani, who has been linked to drug trafficking.
According to reports, Mr. Punjani was not at home at the time of the raid and is currently recuperating in India after undergoing a heart surgery. It remains unclear whether police were aware of his absence before the raid or whether he had information on the impending raid before he left the country.
Ali Punjani, a Mombasa businessman, has been suspected of dealing in drugs. His residence in Nyali, Mombasa, was raided by police. Yesterday, it emerged that Ali Punjani had been assigned 19 police officers as bodyguards, indicating his immense influence within the national security apparatus.
Mr. Punjani's name came up during the ongoing criminal trial of suspected Kenyan drug kingpins in New York. Vijay Goswami, another suspected drug lord, described Punjani as a rival drug trader in Mombasa during the trial of the Akasha brothers, who were arrested in Kenya and extradited to the US to face drug trafficking charges.
