On Tuesday, May 5, 2026, the Guyana Police Force carried out a high-stakes seizure of personal firearms and ammunition from Nazar “Shell” Mohamed, a prominent Guyanese billionaire businessman, and his son Azruddin Mohamed — the country’s sitting Opposition Leader — nearly two full years after the pair were hit with United States sanctions over allegations of mass tax evasion linked to gold exports.
The seizure was ordered in official correspondence from Deputy Police Commissioner Simon McBean, Divisional Commander of Region 4 “A”, addressed directly to the Mohameds. In the document, McBean cites the 2025 indictment handed down against the pair in the Southern District of Florida, which charges them with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, substantive wire and mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Under the terms of the order, the Mohameds were required to immediately surrender all weapons, ammunition, and their corresponding firearm licenses to serving officers, and have been ordered to show cause in writing as to why their licenses should not be permanently revoked per Guyana’s Firearms Act.
Currently, the Mohameds are actively fighting an extradition request that would force them to travel to the U.S. to face trial on the Florida indictment, which was issued in October 2025. Speaking to reporters following the seizure, Azruddin Mohamed confirmed that he and his father had complied with the order, stating he had turned over one 12-gauge shotgun, one 5.56 mm (.223) rifle, and one .45 caliber pistol, while his father surrendered a .32 caliber handgun and a second 12-gauge shotgun. He added that police did not conduct a search of the family’s properties as part of this latest action.
In a striking detail, Azruddin noted that the order to surrender the weapons came just one week after the pair had successfully renewed their firearm licenses on April 27, 2026, and he had been preparing to complete additional routine renewal paperwork this same week.
McBean’s correspondence clarified that the current action stems from the 2024 OFAC sanctions, which were the result of a cross-border investigation into the Mohamed family’s global and local business networks, conducted jointly by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and Guyanese law enforcement authorities. The 2024 sanctions were originally imposed over allegations that the pair evaded more than $50 million in tax payments owed to the Guyanese government connected to the export of over 10,000 kilograms of unreported gold.
This is not the first time the family has lost firearms to police action. Azruddin confirmed that shortly after the 2024 OFAC sanctions were announced, police seized roughly 70 security firearms that were deployed to protect the family’s residential properties, commercial holdings, and mining operations.
The Opposition Leader, who has long been a vocal critic of the ruling People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government, has repeatedly rejected a government offer of official police security provided through Parliament, stating he cannot trust the personnel that would be assigned to his detail. Even after the seizure of his personal weapons, Azruddin reiterated that he will not reverse that decision. He also emphasized that neither he nor his father have ever been questioned by authorities in connection with any gun-related crime or incident.
Azruddin directly framed the latest police action as a politically motivated attack orchestrated by the ruling PPP. “The PPP they are terrified right now; they don’t know what to do. They tried everything against me,” he told reporters. He claimed the government has been behind a sustained campaign targeting himself and his father, including the previous closure of the family’s bank accounts, repeated attempts to falsely pin charges of murder, rape, and drug trafficking on the pair, and covert influence behind the U.S. indictment, sanctions, and current law enforcement actions. “They are not succeeding with anything so they are desperate right now. They’re like a headless chicken just running all over,” he added. The Mohameds have already engaged their legal team to review the seizure and advise on their next legal steps to challenge the order.