In an early morning incident that has amplified political tensions in Guyana, six members of the country’s main opposition bloc We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), including opposition leader Azruddin Mohamed, were escorted by law enforcement officials from a docked vessel to the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Coast Guard headquarters in Georgetown for a mandatory search of the boat, which is owned by the Mohamed family. The confrontation unfolded hours after the WIN parliamentary delegation completed a trip to meet with survivors and bereaved families of the deadly MV Barima river disaster.
According to an official statement released by the Guyana Police Force, the incident traces back to a routine joint maritime patrol carried out by the GDF Coast Guard and local police shortly before 10:00 PM on Tuesday. Patrol officers reported spotting a high-speed ‘go-fast’ vessel entering the mouth of the Demerara River, and claimed the vessel ignored audible siren signals to stop, triggering a pursuit that ended when the boat was intercepted at the Friendship wharf on the East Bank of Demerara.
Police accounts state that three individuals, including Mohamed, were found on board the vessel, while five other people believed to have traveled with the boat were located on the adjacent wharf. A joint investigation into the circumstances of the incident remains ongoing, per the official police statement.
However, the opposition delegation has directly challenged key details of the police narrative, contradicting the claim that the vessel was chased and intercepted while on the river. Mohamed confirmed that the boat had already been securely docked at the family’s Friendship property when law enforcement personnel arrived at the site.
A live broadcast streamed on Team Mohamed’s official Facebook page captured the on-site confrontation between lawmakers and officers. According to footage from the stream, law enforcement first requested official documentation for the vessel and the captain’s operating license, a request that had not been fulfilled as of the conclusion of the standoff. When a senior officer announced the boat would be towed to the GDF Coast Guard headquarters for inspection, WIN General Secretary Odessa Primus immediately resisted the order, stating officers had no authorization to board the private vessel and demanding to know who issued the instruction to move the craft.
Mohamed pushed for the search to be conducted on-site at the Friendship wharf, but officers insisted the vessel would need to be towed to the Coast Guard facility regardless of an initial on-location inspection. The opposition leader and Primus eventually offered to open all compartments of the boat for an on-site search by a single officer, a proposal that was not accepted. During the back-and-forth, one officer openly confirmed law enforcement suspected the vessel was carrying illegal contraband.
Primus repeatedly pushed back against the plan to relocate the vessel, alleging that law enforcement intended to plant illegal items on the boat to incriminate the opposition delegation. She claimed that after the opposition rejected the move to tow the vessel, officers suddenly abandoned plans to conduct an on-site search entirely.
Before the confrontation, the entire WIN parliamentary team had spent Tuesday visiting communities in the North West District to meet with people affected by the MV Barima river tragedy, a recent fatal incident that has drawn public scrutiny of the government’s response to maritime safety. The six WIN lawmakers present on the boat during the incident are Mohamed, Primus, opposition chief whip Tabita Sarabo-Halley, Dawn Hastings, Deon LaCruz, and Natasha Singh. As of Wednesday morning, the joint investigation remains ongoing, with no additional details on potential charges or findings released by law enforcement.