Suspected Kenyan drug baron Ali Punjani was on Thursday discharged from an Indian hospital where is reported to have undergone heart surgery.
Doctors at Asian Heart Institute in Mumbai confirmed to an Indian newspaper, Mid-Day that the tycoon was discharged from the facility where he had been admitted since August 6th.
The billionaire businessman underwent heart surgery to restore blood flow through the artery called angioplasty, the Indian daily reported.
Punjani, who is wanted by Kenyan authorities over allegations of drug trafficking, is expected to jet back to the country on August 26th, after his business class air ticket was booked to Nairobi.
“After three hours, his connecting flight to Mombasa is scheduled from Nairobi at 1.30pm and he is expected to land in Mombasa the same day,” Mid-Day stated.
On Wednesday, detectives armed with sniffer dogs raided his palatial residence in Mombasa’s Nyali estate to search it for drugs.
During the search, the tycoon’s Nepalese wife Ms. Karki Sushmi, 24, was arrested alongside two men of Nepalese and Indian origin. The three were on Thursday released by a Mombasa court over lack of evidence linking them to the drugs trade.
Punjani is believed to be a close ally of the Akasha brothers, Baktash and Ibrahim, who pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges before a United States court last year.
On Friday, Baktash was sentenced to 25 years in US prison and ordered to pay a fine of $100,000. His younger brother Ibrahim will be sentenced on November 8th.
