The Standard Newspaper reporter is now at the center of a drug probe following a report he made about the suspect's bodyguards.
Shortly after a raid in the house of a suspected drug lord, Ali Punjani, Mombasa Police Commander Johnston Ipara took an issue with journalist Willis Oketch's report.
According to Ipara, It was Oketch who first broke the news that the police service had earlier assigned 19 officers as bodyguards to Punjani.
Discrediting the report, the commander demanded that the reporter shed more light on who the officers are.
He also wanted Oketch to reveal which police station the officers are attached and where they are now that mayhem had befallen the home they were reportedly protecting.
In its report, The Standard noted that Punjani was reportedly so influential that he had been assigned 19 police bodyguards.
More than 30 police officers participated in the raid on Punjabi’s home, attracting the attention of curious neighbours.
Inside the compound, were top of the range vehicles, some fitted with bulletproof windows.
Punjani is currently out of the country. Nation reported that his lawyers claimed the tycoon was in India, seeking medical attention.
The businessman was first linked to narcotics by a US Embassy dossier that the then Internal Security Minister George Saitoti tabled in Parliament.
His name also came up during the trial of the Akasha brothers who were arrested in Kenya and extradited to the US to face drug trafficking charges.
Below is a video of Johnston Ipara addressing the press:
