In a developing political incident in Guyana, opposition leader Azruddin Mohamed was taken into custody for a second time late Thursday, just hours after his first arrest, and held at the Leonora Police Station on the West Coast Demerara. The arrest came as Mohamed led a group of people to the site where he was first detained by law enforcement earlier the same day.
Following the second arrest, Mohamed was again released from police custody, but authorities retained his mobile phone, confirmed Odessa Primus, general secretary of the main opposition party We Invest in Nationhood (WIN). Additional WIN representatives who were detained alongside the opposition leader have also been released without any formal charges, WIN executive member Tabita Sarabo-Halley confirmed in a post-arrest statement.
Three other detained party members — WIN parliamentarians Dr. Gordon Barker, Dr. Andre Lewis, and regional councillor Sean Nelson — were all freed without charges. While most of their personal electronic devices seized during processing were returned after custody, Nelson’s phone has not yet been given back, and he was scheduled to return to the station on Friday to collect it. To date, Mohamed’s personal laptop, mobile phone, and vehicle remain in police possession, Sarabo-Halley added.
Per footage broadcast via Facebook Live by Mohamed during the site visit, the opposition leader was showing attendees the area where he and his photographer were intercepted by police following their first stop in the region. According to an early statement from the Guyana Police Force, law enforcement observed two vehicles acting suspiciously near the private residence of Guyanese President Irfaan Ali in Leonora, though police did not explicitly name Mohamed in that initial release. Mohamed has publicly denied that he ever entered the street where President Ali’s private home is located.
After being granted self-bail following his first arrest, Mohamed led a walking group to the area he said he and his photographer visited earlier that evening to inspect ongoing public sea defense construction works. During the live broadcast, he pointed out a large, fenced parcel of land adjacent to a local masjid, enclosed by a tall, reinforced concrete fence running parallel to the Leonora Seawall. Mohamed claimed during the broadcast that the fenced area illegally encroaches on a public government reserve, and issued a direct challenge to the sitting president: “Like Irfaan Ali ain’t know the more he fights me down, the more I am going to expose things about him and his government?”
Within minutes of Mohamed starting the live broadcast and his on-site remarks, police officers approached the group and escorted Mohamed back to the Leonora Police Station. Before entering the police compound, Mohamed repeatedly asked officers to specify what criminal offense he was accused of committing. A senior responding officer confirmed the allegation against him was a breach of security protocol, and ordered Mohamed to terminate the ongoing Facebook Live stream immediately. Alongside Mohamed, his photographer, the driver of a second vehicle (which Mohamed says is not affiliated with him), and multiple WIN parliamentary representatives were also taken into custody during the incident.
Law enforcement agencies globally maintain specialized technical equipment capable of bypassing security locks on mobile phones and personal electronic devices to access stored user data for investigative purposes.