On Tuesday, Azruddin Mohamed, leader of Guyana’s main opposition party We Invest in Nationhood (WIN), was taken into police custody following a routine maritime enforcement check that quickly escalated into a bitter political dispute, with new visual evidence contradicting his core claim of deliberate property damage at the hands of authorities.
The sequence of events unfolded amid a trip by Mohamed and five other WIN parliamentarians to northwestern Guyana’s Region One, where they traveled to meet with survivors and families of victims of the July 19 MV Barima ferry sinking, one of the country’s deadliest recent maritime disasters. The delegation was returning from the visit when marine police and coast guard personnel intercepted their go-fast vessel at its home dock in Friendship, along the East Bank Demerara. According to official police accounts, Mohamed was unable to produce required documentation: the vessel’s registration certificate, fitness certification, and the captain’s operating license.
Mohamed and his team agreed to allow a search of the vessel at the Friendship dock, after which the boat was escorted to the Guyana Police Force’s marine wing headquarters in Ruimveldt for a full inspection. No illegal items were recovered during the search, per WIN’s official statement on the incident. When preparing to leave the facility, Mohamed was asked to sign a police statement regarding the stop; when he declined, he was placed under arrest citing provisions of Guyana’s Maritime Act. As of Wednesday morning, he remained in police custody.
Shortly after his detention, Mohamed posted an allegation on his political group’s official Facebook page, Team Mohamed’s, claiming that his vessel had suffered deliberate hull damage while in police custody. In his post published at 6:54 AM Tuesday, Mohamed claimed the damage was a deliberate act of retaliation by the ruling administration, writing that authorities intentionally left the boat moored in a way that would damage its hull and lower engine structure, leaving visible damage after just four hours in police possession. He shared photos of the damaged section of the vessel’s hull to support his claim.
However, conflicting evidence emerged less than two hours before Mohamed’s post, in a 5:36 AM Facebook video shared by local figure Akim Hercules. The video, filmed when the boat was still anchored in an interior river location during the WIN delegation’s humanitarian trip, shows the identical damage to the vessel’s hull that Mohamed blamed on police. Hercules noted in his post that the damage occurred while the opposition team was in Region One carrying out humanitarian outreach to those affected by the MV Barima disaster, adding that the incident was unrelated to partisan politics.
WIN’s official statement has raised a series of critical questions about the legality and motivations behind Mohamed’s arrest and the vessel’s detention. The party points out that the boat was already docked and not in active operation when law enforcement arrived, no illegal contraband was found during the search, and authorities have failed to issue a formal detention notice for the vessel or cite specific provisions of Guyana’s Shipping Act to justify either the vessel’s seizure or Mohamed’s arrest.
“The circumstances surrounding the continued detention raise serious questions about whether the actions being taken are based on a legitimate enforcement process or on external directives and political considerations,” the party’s statement read. WIN has alleged that the country’s police force and Guyana Defence Force are being politically weaponized against the opposition, arguing that Tuesday’s enforcement action directly followed the delegation’s visit to MV Barima survivors. During that visit, Mohamed advised affected families not to sign government-issued compensation payment documents, and told residents that WIN had arranged for pro bono legal representation for families seeking justice over the disaster.