This archive report was first published on 28 August 2019.
Ali Punjani, a Mombasa-based businessman, has extended his stay in India, where he underwent open-heart surgery earlier this month.
According to his personal assistant, Mr. Punjani was admitted to the Asian Heart Institute in India on July 29, 2019, after a check-up at The Heart Lung Diagnostic Centre in Mombasa revealed a heart attack.
Mr. Punjani's extended stay in India has raised concerns about his potential involvement in drug trafficking, as he is being sought by police in Kenya over the same allegations.
Outgoing Mombasa police boss Johnston Ipara had stated that Mr. Punjani would be arrested upon his return to Kenya, citing evidence of his involvement in the narcotics trade.
Mr. Punjani's name first came to the limelight in 2010 when he was mentioned in Parliament as a drug suspect by the late Interior Minister George Saitoti.
He was also mentioned alongside four politicians in a dossier from the American Embassy to the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission.
Mr. Punjani was charged in a Mombasa court in 2017 with fighting in public with the sons of Akasha, a rival drug lord in Mombasa.
